Information porcessing apparatus and method, and program thereof

ABSTRACT

There is provided an information processing apparatus including: evaluation information extracting means extracting evaluation information from evaluation of every user for an item; preference information creating means for creating preference information indicating a preference of every user on the basis of the evaluation information extracted by the evaluation information extracting means and an item characteristic amount indicating a characteristic of the item; space creating means for creating a space in which the user is located, according to the preference information; and display control means for controlling display of the user located in the space, according to the space created by the space creating means and the preference information. The apparatus may be applied to, for example, an image display apparatus which displays server images for providing a variety of items and information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus andan information processing method, and a program thereof, and moreparticularly, to an information processing apparatus and an informationprocessing method, and a program thereof which are capable of presentingdetails of preferences of other users in an easily recognized manner.

2. Description of the Related Art

As a method for retrieving and recommending a variety of items such astelevision programs, music, commercial products or the like on the basisof preferences of users, there is a collaborative filtering method basedon evaluations of users.

In the collaborative filtering method, for example, there is a methodthat similar users (other users) who have evaluated the same items areselected on the basis of evaluation values of users for items, and otheritems selected by the similar users are recommended (P. Resnick, N.Iacovou, M. Suchak, P. Bergstrom, and J. Riedl. “GroupLens: OpenArchitecture for Collaborative Filtering of Netnews.” Conference onComputer Supported Cooperative Work, pp. 175-186, 1994., and Hofmann,T., “Latent Semantic Models for Collaborative Filtering”, ACMTransactions on Information Systems, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 89-115, 2004.).

Meanwhile, there is a method that an evaluation method of the presentuser for items and evaluation methods of other users are presented asspace distribution, and then, the evaluation method of the present userand the evaluation methods of the other users can be compared with eachother (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-217311 andJapanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-217312).

Further, there is a technology in which sentences on web pages areanalyzed to present users having similar value standards.

However, in the above described methods, it is difficult to presentdetails of preferences of other users in an easily recognized manner.

In the method disclosed in the P. Resnick, N. Iacovou, M. Suchak, P.Bergstrom, and J. Riedl. “GroupLens: Open Architecture for CollaborativeFiltering of Netnews.” Conference on Computer Supported CooperativeWork, pp. 175-186, 1994., since the level of similarity is calculatedonly for users who have evaluated the same items, it is difficult torecognize how other items are evaluated with respect to other users whohave evaluated the other items.

In the method disclosed in the Hofmann, T. “Latent Semantic Models forCollaborative Filtering”, ACM Transactions on Information Systems, Vol.22, No. 1, pp. 89-115, 2004., since it is not considered what kind ofcharacteristics the items evaluated by users have, and since recommendeditems are limited to items which have been directly evaluated by otherusers, it is difficult to recommend items which are not evaluated byanybody. Further, since evaluation values based on a five-stageevaluation or the like are received, it is difficult to presentevaluations of other users on the basis of evaluations (‘like’, ‘cool’or the like) for indicating preferences of users.

Further, in the methods disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication Publication No. 2008-217311 and Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication Publication No, 2008-217312, it is possible to recognizesimilar users, but it is difficult to specifically present how thesimilar users have evaluated predetermined items.

In addition, in the technology that users having similar value standardsare presented from sentences on web pages, unless other users writesentences with respect to the same items as the present user, it isdifficult to discriminate whether the other users have the similar valuestandards. Further, since similar discrimination is performed by onlywhether the evaluation is a positive evaluation or a negativeevaluation, it is difficult to present detailed evaluation even in thecase of similar users.

The present invention is contrived in consideration of the aboveproblems, and particularly, provides details of preferences of otherusers in an easily recognized manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of thepresent invention includes: an evaluation information extracting unitextracting evaluation information from evaluation of every user for anitem; a preference information creating unit creating preferenceinformation indicating a preference of every user on the basis of theevaluation information extracted by the evaluation informationextracting unit and an item characteristic amount indicating acharacteristic of the item; a space creating unit creating a space inwhich the user is located, according to the preference information; anda display control unit controlling display of the user located in thespace, according to the space created by the space creating unit and thepreference information.

The preference information creating unit may create the preferenceinformation which includes an evaluation type indicating the type of theevaluation for the item and a characteristic amount coefficient scoringthe item characteristic amount, using a machine learning algorithm.

The information processing apparatus may further include: a preferenceinformation obtaining unit obtaining the preference information of everyuser with reference to the predetermined evaluation type to generate acharacteristic amount vector of every user according to thecharacteristic amount coefficient; and a user-characteristic amountmatrix creating unit creating a user-characteristic amount matrix fromthe characteristic amount vector of every user generated by thepreference information obtaining unit, wherein the space creating unitmay compress the user-characteristic amount matrix created by the usercharacteristic amount matrix creating unit to create the space, andwherein the display control unit may control, the display of the userlocated in the space, according to the space created by the spacecreating unit and the characteristic amount vector.

The information processing apparatus may further include: an inter-userdistance matrix creating unit calculating a distance between thepreference information of every user on the basis of the characteristicamount coefficient of the preference information of every user withrespect to the predetermined evaluation type, to create an inter-userdistance matrix, wherein the space creating unit may compress theinter-user distance matrix created by the inter-user distance matrixcreating unit to create the space, and wherein the display control unitmay control the display of the user located in the space, according tothe space created by the space creating unit and the distance betweenthe preference information of every user.

The space creating unit may create a low-dimensional space in which alow-dimensional vector indicating every user is located, using amulti-dimensional scaling method, on the basis of the inter-userdistance matrix, and the play control unit may control display of thelow-dimensional space created by the space creating unit and thelow-dimensional vector located in the low-dimensional space.

The information processing apparatus may further include: aninter-identification-information distance matrix creating unitcalculating a distance between predetermined identification informationcorresponding to the evaluation type in a predetermined semantic spaceto create an inter-identification-information distance matrix; and aninter-user-identification-information matrix creating unit calculating adistance between the predetermined identification information of everyuser on the basis of the characteristic amount coefficient of thepreference information of every user with reference to the predeterminedidentification information to create aninter-user-identification-information distance matrix, wherein the spacecreating unit may create an identification information space and a useridentification information space on the basis of theinter-identification-information distance matrix created by theinter-identification-information distance matrix creating unit and theinter-user-identification-information distance matrix created by theinter-user-identification-information matrix creating unit, and whereinthe display control unit may control, according to a calibration spaceobtained by calibrating the identification information space created bythe space creating unit and the user identification information space,and according to the distance between the predetermined identificationinformation of every user, the display of the user located in thecalibration space.

The space creating unit may create an identification informationlow-dimensional space in which a low-dimensional vector indicating theidentification information is located and a user identificationinformation low-dimensional space in which a low-dimensional vectorindicating the identification information of every user is located,using a multi-dimensional scaling method, on the basis of theinter-identification-information distance matrix and theinter-user-identification-information distance matrix, and the displaycontrol unit may control display of the calibration space, which isobtained by calibrating the identification information low-dimensionalspace created by the space creating unit and the user identificationinformation low-dimensional space, and display of a low-dimensionalvector located in the calibration space corresponding to every user withreference to the predetermined identification information.

The information processing apparatus may further include: a calibrationperforming unit performing the calibration of the identificationinformation space created by the space creating unit and the useridentification information space.

The information processing apparatus may further include: a preferenceinformation obtaining unit obtaining the preference information of everyuser, with reference to the predetermined evaluation type; and a linksetting unit calculating a distance between the preference informationof every user on the basis of the characteristic amount coefficient ofthe preference information of every user with reference to thepredetermined evaluation type obtained by the preference informationobtaining unit to set a link for the users of a higher number k having asmaller distance, wherein the space creating unit may create the spacelow-dimensionalized on the basis of the link set by the link settingunit, and wherein the display control unit may control the display ofthe users of the number k located in the space, according to the spacecreated by the space creating unit and the characteristic amountcoefficient.

An information processing method according to an embodiment of thepresent invention includes the steps of: extracting evaluationinformation from evaluation of every user for an item; creatingpreference information indicating a preference of every user, on thebasis of the evaluation information extracted in the extracting step andan item characteristic amount indicating a characteristic of the item;creating a space in which the user is located, according to thepreference information; and controlling display of the user located inthe space, according to the space created in the space creating step andthe preference information.

A program according to an embodiment of the present invention executes aprogram in a computer, the process including the steps of: extractingevaluation information from evaluation of every user for an item;creating preference information indicating a preference of every user,on the basis of the evaluation information extracted in the extractingstep and an item characteristic amount indicating a characteristic ofthe item; creating a space in which the user is located, according tothe preference information; and controlling display of the user locatedin the space, according to the space created in the space creating stepand the preference information.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, evaluationinformation is extracted from evaluation of every user for an item;preference information indicating a preference of every user is createdon the basis of the extracted evaluation information and an itemcharacteristic amount indicating a characteristic of the item; a spacein which the user is located is created according to the preferenceinformation; and display of the user located in the space is controlledaccording to the created space and the preference information.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, details ofpreferences of other users can be presented in an easily recognizedmanner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an informationprocessing system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an evaluation information extractingprocess;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating user evaluation;

FIG. 4 in a diagram illustrating evaluation information;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating link information;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a preference information creatingprocess;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an item characteristic amount;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a creating method of the preferenceinformation;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a calculating example of totalsimilarity level;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an item preference level calculatingprocess;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a recommendation item presentationprocess;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a calculating method ofmacro-similarity;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a similar evaluation typepresentation process;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an item preference level spacedisplay process;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of display of itempreference level;

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of display of itempreference level;

FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a space name display process;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of display of a space name;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of display of a space name;

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an item preference level displayspace display coordinate axis converting process;

FIG. 27 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an item preference level displayspace display coordinate axis converting process;

FIG. 29 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 30 is a flowchart illustrating a link information display process;

FIG. 31 is a diagram illustrating an example of space display of anitem;

FIG. 32 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 33 is a flowchart illustrating a user space display process;

FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating an example of space display of a user;

FIG. 35 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 36 is a flowchart illustrating a user space display process;

FIG. 37 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 38 is a flowchart illustrating a user space display process;

FIG. 39 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 40 is a flowchart illustrating a user space display process;

FIG. 41 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 42 is a flowchart illustrating a user space display process;

FIG. 43 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 44 is a flowchart illustrating a group preference informationcreating process;

FIG. 45 is a diagram illustrating an example of user information;

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating an item recommended by any othergroup;

FIG. 47 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 48 is a flowchart illustrating a changing point item presentationprocess;

FIG. 49 is a diagram illustrating preference information given by timeinformation;

FIG. 50 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 51 is a flowchart illustrating a characteristic amount suitabilitypresentation process;

FIG. 52 is a flowchart illustrating an inter-class link frequencycalculating process;

FIG. 53 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculation of aninter-item class frequency;

FIG. 54 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of aninformation processing apparatus;

FIG. 55 is a flowchart illustrating an inter-class link frequencycalculating process; and

FIG. 56 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of ageneral-purpose personal computer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. Description willbe made in the following order:

1. First Embodiment (from preference information creation torecommendation item presentation)

2. Second Embodiment (item space display)

3. Third Embodiment (user space display)

4. Other Modifications,

1. First Embodiment Configuration Example of Information ProcessingSystem

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an informationprocessing apparatus according to the present invention. The informationprocessing system in FIG. 1 is a system which presents an item,information relating to the item, information relating to a user of theinformation processing system, and the like to the user. Herein, theitem refers to a variety of contents such as a television program, amoving image, a still image, a document, music, software andinformation, and a variety of commercial products (including a personsuch as an entertainer) or the like. The information processing systemincludes an input and output apparatus 11 and an information processingapparatus 12.

The input and output apparatus 11 is used in the case where a userinputs information or a command for the information processing apparatus12, or presents information supplied from the information processingapparatus 12 to the user. The input and output apparatus 11 includes aninput unit 21 which includes a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone or thelike, and a display unit 22 which includes an exclusive monitor, adisplay device provided in a CE (Consumer Electronics) device or thelike.

The information processing apparatus 12 includes a user evaluationobtaining unit 31, a user evaluation storing unit 32, an evaluationinformation extracting unit 33, an evaluation information storing unit34, a link information storing unit 35, an item characteristic amountstoring unit 36, an item characteristic amount selecting unit 37, anevaluation information selecting unit 38, a preference informationcreating unit 39, a preference information storing unit 40 and apresentation unit 41.

The user evaluation obtaining unit 31 obtains an evaluation for eachitem (hereinafter, referred to as user evaluation) input by the userthrough the input unit 21, and the obtained evaluation is supplied tothe user evaluation storing unit 32 and the evaluation informationextracting unit 33. The user evaluation is, for example, a sentencewhich is directly input from a keyboard which is the input unit 21 orwhich is obtained by recognizing a voice which is input from amicrophone which is the input unit 21, or text data in a predetermineddocument or the like. Further, the user evaluation may be alphanumericcharacters or the like in 5-stage evaluation.

The user evaluation storing unit 32 records (stores) the user evaluationsupplied from the user evaluation obtaining unit 31. The user evaluationwhich is recorded in the user evaluation storing unit 32 is supplied tothe presentation unit 41, as necessary.

The evaluation information extracting unit 33 analyzes the userevaluation supplied from the user evaluation obtaining unit 31 toextract evaluation information indicating the evaluation of the user forthe item, and then supplies the extracted evaluation information to theevaluation information storing unit 34.

For example, in the case where the user evaluation is text data (ageneral sentence), the evaluation information extracting unit 33extracts, as the evaluation information, words indicating a preferenceof the user for an item such as “like or dislike”, “cool” or the likefrom the user evaluation, using a method disclosed in “Opinion Miningfrom Web Documents Extraction and Structurization” by N. Kobayashi, TheJapanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Collection of Papers, Vol.22, No. 2, pp. 227-238, 2007, and then supplied the extracted words tothe evaluation information storing unit 34. Further, the evaluationinformation extracting unit 33 extracts the item (words indicating theitem) which becomes an evaluation target of the user from the userevaluation (text data) and then supplies the extracted item togetherwith an attribute of the item (an aspect which becomes an evaluationreference) or the like for the evaluation information storing unit 34 asthe evaluation information.

In addition, in the case where the user evaluation is an evaluationequal to or more than 2 items, the evaluation information extractingunit 33 extracts from the user evaluation which is equal to or more thanthe 2 items (words indicating the items) which becomes the evaluationtarget of the user and supplies the corresponding extracted itemstogether with attributes of the items to the link information storingunit 35 as link information.

The evaluation information storing unit 34 records the evaluationinformation supplied from the evaluation information extracting unit 33.The evaluation information recorded in the evaluation informationstoring unit 34 is supplied to the evaluation information selecting unit38 and the presentation unit 41, as necessary.

The link information storing unit 35 records the link informationsupplied from the evaluation information extracting unit 33. The linkinformation recorded in the link information storing unit 35 is suppliedto the presentation unit 41, as necessary.

The item characteristic amount storing unit 36 records an itemcharacteristic amount which is information indicating characteristics ofan item. A specific example of the item characteristic amount will bedescribed later with reference to FIG. 8. The item characteristic amountincludes the type of the item which is a general genre of the item andthe type of a characteristic amount which is a factor specifying theitem. The type of the item is, for example, a song, an album, an artistor the like. The type of the characteristic amount is a musicalcharacteristic in the case where the item is music, a characteristic asan image in the case where the item is a moving image or a still image,a sentence written for the content as the item and words included in thesentence, information on a related person or nation, or the like.Further, the type of the characteristic amount may be defined as havinga weight (score) indicating the level of importance or degree,respectively. Further, the item characteristic amount may be recorded inadvance in the item characteristic storing unit 36 or may be obtainedthrough a network such as the Internet.

The item characteristic amount selecting unit 37 selects and obtains theitem characteristic amount according to the item type in the itemcharacteristic amount storing unit 36, on the basis of a command forselecting the item characteristic amount for a predetermined item typewhich is input by the user through the input unit 21. The itemcharacteristic amount selecting unit 37 supplies the obtained itemcharacteristic amount to the preference information creating unit 39.

The evaluation information selecting unit 38 selects and obtains theevaluation information in the evaluation information storing unit 34, onthe basis of an instruction for selecting predetermined evaluationinformation, which is input through the input unit 21 by the user. Theevaluation information selecting unit 38 supplies the obtainedevaluation information to the preference information creating unit 39.

The preference information creating unit 39 creates preferenceinformation to be described later with reference to FIG. 9, on the basisof the item characteristic amount supplied from the item characteristicamount selecting unit 37 and the evaluation information supplied fromthe evaluation information selecting unit 38. The preference informationis information indicating the tendency of the preference of the user fora predetermined item. The preference information creating unit 39supplies the created preference information to the preferenceinformation storing unit 40.

The preference information storing unit 40 records (stores) thepreference information supplied from the preference information creatingunit 39. The preference information stored in the preference informationcreating unit 39 is supplied to the presentation unit 41, as necessary.

The presentation unit 41 obtains predetermined information, on the basisof an instruction of presentation of a variety of information which isinput through the input unit 21 of the input and output apparatus 11,from the user evaluation storing unit 32, the link information storingunit 35, the item characteristic amount storing unit 36 and thepreference information storing unit 40, as necessary. Further, thepresentation unit 41 performs processes to be described later withreference to FIG. 10 and thereafter, for the obtained information andsupplies the processed information to the display unit 22, to therebyperform the presentation of the variety of information to the user.

In addition, the input and output apparatus 11 and the informationprocessing apparatus 12 may be provided as one apparatus or may beprovided as separate apparatuses. In the case where the input and outputapparatus 11 and the information processing apparatus 12 are provided asseparate apparatuses, the input and output apparatus 11 includes, forexample, a user terminal such as a personal computer, a cellular phone,a CE device or the like; and the information processing apparatus 12includes, for example, a variety of servers such as a Web server, anapplication server or the like. In this case, in the informationprocessing system in FIG. 1, the plurality of input and outputapparatuses 11 is connected to, for example, the information processingapparatus 12 through a network such as the Internet. Further, theinformation processing apparatus 12 may include a plurality of devices.

An example of the case where the input and output apparatus 11 isconfigured by the user terminal and the information processing apparatus12 is configured by the server will be described hereinafter.

[Evaluation Information Extracting Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, an evaluation information extracting process of the informationprocessing apparatus 12 will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

In step S11, the user evaluation obtaining unit 31 obtains userevaluation as shown in FIG. 3 which is input through the input unit 21by the user, and then supplies the obtained user evaluation to the userevaluation storing unit 32 and the evaluation information extractingunit 33. In addition, the user evaluation obtaining unit 31 obtains fromthe input unit 21 a name of the user indicating a user who manages theinput and output apparatus 11 together with the user evaluation, andthen supplies the obtained user name and user evaluation to the userevaluation storing unit 32 and the evaluation information extractingunit 33. In step S11, if the user evaluation is supplied to the userevaluation storing unit 32, the user evaluation storing unit 32 recordsthe user evaluation together with the user name.

As shown in FIG. 3, the user evaluation corresponds to the user (username) who has input the user evaluation. More specifically, a userevaluation such as “This song A is cool” corresponds to “user 1”; and auser evaluation “Artist a is not handsome!” also corresponds to “user1”. Further, a user evaluation “Melody of song B is really beautiful”corresponds to “user 2”; and a user evaluation “The voice in song A is abit grating” corresponds to “user 3”.

Returning to FIG. 2, in step S12, the evaluation information extractingunit 33 performs processes of a morpheme analysis or a syntax analysisfor the user evaluation (FIG. 3) supplied from the user evaluationobtaining unit 31 to extract evaluation information as shown in FIG. 4,and then supplies the extracted evaluation information to the evaluationinformation storing unit 34.

As shown in FIG. 4, the evaluation information is configured to includethe user (name of the user) who inputs the user evaluation, the item(name of the item) which becomes an evaluation target in the userevaluation, the attribute of the item, the evaluation type fordistinguishing the type of the evaluation (preference of the user) forthe item, P/N (positive/negative) indicating polarity of the evaluationtype (whether the evaluation is positive or negative), intensityindicating the degree of the preference which is indicated as theevaluation type, and the time when the user evaluation which becomes abase of the evaluation information is input. More specifically, in thefirst section from the top in FIG. 4 is shown evaluation informationthat the user is “user 1”; the item is “song A”; the evaluation type is“cool”; the P/N is “P (positive)”; and the time is “2008-12-01 12:00:00”indicating 12 o'clock, Dec. 1, 2008. In the second section from the topis shown evaluation information that the user is “user 1”; the item is“song A”; the evaluation type is “like”; the P/N is “P (positive)”; andthe time is “2008-12-03 10:00:00 indicating 10 o'clock, Dec. 3, 2008. Inthe third section from the top is shown evaluation information that theuser is “user 1”; the item is “artist a”; the attribute is “looks”; theevaluation type is “handsome”; the P/N is “P (positive)”; the intensityis “−3”; and the time is “2008-12-10 21:00:00 indicating 21 o'clock,Dec. 10, 2008. In the fourth section from the top is shown evaluationinformation that the user is “user 2”; the item is “song B”; theattribute is “melody”; the evaluation type is “beautiful”; the P/N is “P(positive)”; the intensity is “5”; and the time is “2008-12-15 1:00:00indicating 1 o'clock, Dec. 15, 2008. Further, in the fifth section fromthe top is shown evaluation information that the user is “user 3”; theitem is “song A”; the attribute is “voice”; the evaluation type is “notgood”; the P/N is “N (negative)”; the intensity is “2”; and the time is“2008-12-7 11:00:00 indicating 11 o'clock, Dec. 7, 2008.

In FIG. 4, the first, third, fourth and fifth evaluation informationfrom the top correspond to the first, second, third and fourth userevaluation from the top in FIG. 3, respectively.

In the case where words (“really” or “a bit”) indicating the degree ofpreference indicated by words (“beautiful” or “not good”) correspondingto the evaluation type are included in the user evaluation (FIG. 3), theevaluation information extracting unit 33 extracts the intensityaccording to the degree as shown in the evaluation information in FIG.4. The intensity may be directly input by the user or may be used as itis in the case of the user evaluation through the 5-stage evaluation.

Further, in the case where expressions (“not” such as “not handsome”)negating words corresponding to the evaluation type are included in theuser evaluation (FIG. 3 the evaluation information extracting unit 33extracts a negative intensity for the evaluation type as shown in theevaluation type in FIG. 4.

The time in the evaluation information is set to the time when the userevaluation is input, but is not limited thereto, for example, timeanalogized from information (words) about time included in the userevaluation may be applied. For example, time analogized from “last year”(one year before the current time) in a user evaluation “1 liked anartist β until last year, but” may be set as the time in the evaluationinformation.

In addition, a certainty factor (not shown) indicating certainty may beadded to the evaluation information as continuous values of, forexample, 0 to 1. For example, the evaluation information extracting unit33 may extract the word “probably” relating to the certainty factor froma user evaluation “I haven't listened to this person's song, butprobably I think I like it”, and may add a certainty factor (forexample, 0.2) which is preset for the “probably” to the evaluationinformation in which the evaluation type is “like”. Moreover, theevaluation information extracting unit 33 may extract the word “is”relating to the certainty factor (assertion) from a user evaluation“artist γ is clumsy”, and may add a certainty factor (for example, avalue of 1.0 or the like) which is preset for the “is” to the evaluationinformation in which the evaluation type is “clumsy”.

Further, in step S12, in the case where the user evaluation correspondsto two items, the evaluation information extracting unit 33 extractsfrom the user evaluation the two items (item names) which become targetsof the user evaluation to be supplied to the link information storingunit 35 as the link information as shown in FIG. 5. More specifically,for example, the evaluation information extracting unit 33 performs asyntax analysis or the like for a user evaluation “artist α and artist βhave the same sound”, and then extracts a parallel relation of the“artist α” and the “artist β”.

As shown in FIG. 5, the link information is configured to include theuser (user name) who inputs the user evaluation, two items 1 and 2 (itemnames) which are the evaluation targets in the user evaluation,attributes of the items, and intensity indicating the degree ofrelevancy between the items obtained from the user evaluation. Morespecifically, in the first section from the top is shown evaluationinformation that the user is “user 1”; the item 1 is “artist α”; theitem 2 is “artist β”; the attribute is “sound”; and the intensity is “3”in FIG. 5. In the second section from the top is shown evaluationinformation that the user is “user 1”; the item 1 is “song A”; the item2 is “song B”; and the intensity is “5”. In the third section from thetop is shown evaluation information that the user is “user 2”; the item1 is “song A”; the item 2 is “song C”; the attribute is “voice”; and theintensity is “2”.

The link information is configured to be extracted from the parallelrelation between the items in the user evaluation. However, for example,in the extracted evaluation information, the link information may begenerated by connecting the items in which the some evaluation type isextracted with the link information.

Returning to the flowchart in FIG. 2, in step S13, the evaluationinformation storing unit 34 records the user evaluation supplied fromthe user evaluation obtaining unit 31.

In step S14, the link information storing unit 35 records the linkinformation supplied from the evaluation information extracting unit 33.

According to the above described processes, the information processingapparatus 12 may record evaluation for a predetermined item for everyuser as evaluation information.

[Preference Information Creating Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, a preference information creating process in the informationprocessing apparatus 12 will be described with reference to a flowchartin FIG. 6.

In step S31, the item characteristic amount selecting unit 37 selectsand obtains an item characteristic amount according to the type of theitem in the item characteristic amount storing unit 36, on the basis ofthe type of the item input through the input unit 21 by the user. Theitem characteristic amount selecting unit 37 supplies the obtained itemcharacteristic amount to the preference information creating unit 39.

Herein, an example of the item characteristic amount recorded in theitem characteristic amount storing unit 36 will be described withreference to FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 7, the item characteristic amount is configured so thatthe item type, the type of the characteristic amount and a scoreindicating a weight for the characteristic amount type correspond to theitem (item name). More specifically, “song”, which is the item type,“music characteristic amount 1” and “music characteristic amount 2”which are the characteristic amount types correspond to an item “songA”. Scores of “3.1” and “9.3” are defined for the “music characteristicamount 1” and “music characteristic amount 2” for the “song A”,respectively. “Song”, which is the item type, “music characteristicamount 1” and “music characteristic amount 2” which are thecharacteristic amount types correspond to an item “song B”. Scores of“1.2” and “2.2” are defined for the “music characteristic amount 1” and“music characteristic amount 2” for the “song B”, respectively.“Artist”, which is the item type, and “keyword 1”, which is thecharacteristic amount type, correspond to an item “artist α”. A score of“1” is defined for the “keyword” for the “artist α”.

In such an item characteristic amount, the items corresponding to thesame characteristic amount types may correspond to the same item typeeven though general concepts or sizes are different. For example, in thecase where a keyword 1 which is the characteristic amount typecorresponds to each item of a song, an album and an artist, the sameitem type for example, “music” or the like) may correspond to the items.

Returning to the flowchart in FIG. 6, in step S32, the evaluationinformation selecting unit 38 selects and obtains from the evaluationinformation storing unit 34 the evaluation information according to theevaluation type on the basis of the evaluation type which is inputthrough the input unit 21 by the user. If there is no input of theevaluation type from the user, for example, the evaluation type such as“like or dislike” or the like may be determined as a default value.Further, in the case where the certainty factor is added to theevaluation information, the evaluation type of the evaluationinformation having a certainty factor larger than a predetermined valuemay be obtained. The evaluation information selecting unit 38 suppliesthe obtained evaluation information to the preference informationcreating unit 39. In addition, the selected and obtained evaluationinformation may be plural.

In step S33, the preference information creating unit 39 createspreference information, on the basis of the item characteristic amountwhich is supplied from the item characteristic amount selecting unit 37and the evaluation information supplied from the evaluation informationselecting unit 38, and then supplies the created preference informationto the preference information storing unit 40. For example, thepreference information may be created on the basis of evaluationinformation in which the time of the evaluation information is apredetermined period such as the past 6 months. The preferenceinformation creating unit 39 creates preference information, using aregression equation or discriminant machine learning algorithm in theabove described patent documents 1 and 2, according to attributes of theitem characteristic amount and the evaluation information. Herein, theattributes of the item characteristic amount and the evaluationinformation are information indicating whether the item characteristicamount and the evaluation information are expressed by numeric values ornames. Here, the former is referred to as a numerical attribute and thelatter is referred to as a name attribute. That is, the itemcharacteristic amount corresponding to the characteristic amount typesuch as a music characteristic amount which is able to be numericalizedis the numerical attribute; and the item characteristic amountcorresponding to the characteristic amount type such as a keyword or thelike which is not numericalized is the name attribute. Further, theevaluation information such as a 5-stage evaluation which is able to benumericalized is the numerical attribute; and the evaluation informationcorresponding to the evaluation type such as “like or dislike” or thelike is the name attribute.

Herein, a creating method of preference information according to theattributes of the item characteristic amount and the evaluationinformation will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

As shown in FIG. 8, the creating methods of the preference informationvary according to the attributes of the evaluation information and theattributes of the item characteristic amount. Further, in FIG. 8, theevaluation information is classified into single evaluation information,plural evaluation information and a link, and the single evaluationinformation is given the attributes.

Firstly, in the case where the evaluation information is the singleevaluation information and the numerical attribute, the preferenceinformation is created by the linear regression, not by the attribute ofthe item characteristic amount.

In the linear regression, a regression coefficient is calculated bymultiple regression where the item characteristic amount is a dependantvariable, and the evaluation information which is the numericalattribute is an objective variable, and a vector (regression coefficientvector) having the regression coefficient corresponding to each itemcharacteristic amount as a component is used as the preferenceinformation. That is, where y is evaluation information, x=(x₁, x₂, . .. , x_(M)) (M is the number of the types of the item characteristicamounts) is a characteristic amount vector, y=a₀+a₁x₁+a₂x₂+ . . . ,+a_(M)x_(M) is approximated using the linear regression, and thus, aregression coefficient vector (a₀, a₁, a₂, . . . , a_(M)) is obtained asthe preference information. In FIG. 6, the format of the preferenceinformation is expressed in a bracket < >.

Since this indicates the degree that each item characteristic amountaffects the evaluation information (the item characteristic amount isnormalized in advance), it is appropriate as the preference informationof the user.

Next, in the case where the single evaluation information is the nameattribute and the item characteristic amount is the numerical attribute,the preference information is created according to the Fisher'sDiscriminant Analysis (FDA).

For example, in the case where the item characteristic amount is a musiccharacteristic amount such as the level of tempo or live music and theevaluation information (evaluation type) is “cool”, a transformationvector determined by the Fisher's Discriminant Analysis (FDA) foroptimally discriminating an item corresponding to the “cool” and an itemwhich does not correspond to the “cool” is obtained as the preferenceinformation. The transformation vector has the same dimension as theitem characteristic amount, and indicates the degree that a certaincharacteristic amount affects the evaluation information.

Next, in the case where the single evaluation information is the nameattribute and the item characteristic amount is the name attribute, thepreference information is created by the χ² test.

In the χ² test, it is verified whether there is a relevancy between theitem characteristic amount of a certain name attribute (keyword or thelike) and the evaluation information (for example, “cool” or not“cool”). By performing this test for each item characteristic amount,for example, a binary vector having the same dimension as the itemcharacteristic amount and having a component value of 1 if there is asignificant difference, and 0 if there is no significant difference, isobtained as the preference information (or a continuous value vectorhaving χ² statistics as the component value may be obtained). It can berecognized that a certain characteristic amount has strong relevancy tothe evaluation information in the user from the binary vector.

Next, in the case where the evaluation information is a plurality ofevaluation information, the preference information is created by thecanonical correlation analysis, not by the attribute of the itemcharacteristic amount.

In the canonical correlation analysis, a canonical correlation vector(set thereof) mapped to a canonical space in which correlation betweentwo linearly transformed spaces becomes the highest is calculated. Inthe canonical space, there are two canonical correlation vectors for anevaluation information space in which all the evaluation information fordifferent dimensions is included and an item characteristic amountspace, either of which may be used as the preference information.Further, a transformation matrix including several upper level canonicalcorrelation vectors having the highest correlation may be used.

Finally, in the case where the evaluation information is the linkinformation, the preference information is created by an average linklength or DML (Distance Metric Learning), not by the attribute of theitem characteristic amount.

The average link length refers to an average value with respect to alllinks, of differences between respective item characteristic amountsbetween link-extended items. A characteristic amount having a largeaverage value does not significantly contribute to the link, that is,the relevancy, and also is not such a significant characteristic amountfor a target user. The preference information according to the averagelink length is expressed as a vector having the average link length ofeach characteristic amount as a component. If link-extended item pairs(characteristic amount vector) are (x_(p11), x_(p12)), (x_(p21),x_(p22)), . . . , (x_(pP1), x_(pP2)) (P is the total number of thepairs), the vector indicating the preference information is expressed asΣi|x_(p11)−x_(p12)|/P.

Further, according to the DML, a transformation matrix A from acharacteristic amount space, in which a certain objective function isoptimized by the link information according to a learning restrictionsuch as “link-extended item pairs belong to the same class” to otherspaces, is calculated. In the case of mapping to spaces of a pluralityof dimensions, there may be determination-impossibility in the order ofthe dimensions. At that time, the transformation vector mapped to afirst dimensional space becomes the preference information at that time.

Further, the creating method of the preference information is notlimited to the above described method, and another method may beadopted.

Returning to the flowchart in FIG. 6, in step S34, the preferenceinformation storing unit 40 records the preference information suppliedfrom the preference information creating unit 39.

According to the above described process, the information processingapparatus 12 may create and record preference information indicating thetendency of preferences of users for predetermined items.

Herein, an example of preference information recorded in the preferenceinformation storing unit 40 will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

The preference information shown in FIG. 9 is configured so that itemtypes, evaluation types and characteristic amount information correspondto users (user names). Further, scores indicating weights forcoefficients designated by the characteristic amount information areprovided to the characteristic amount information. More specifically,the item type “song”, the evaluation type “like or not” (that is, likeor dislike), the characteristic amount information “coefficient of themusic characteristic amount 1” and “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 2” correspond to the “user 1”; and scores of “3”and “10.3” are respectively provided to the “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 1” and the “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 2”. The item type “song”, the evaluation type“cool or not”, the characteristic amount information “coefficient of themusic characteristic amount 1” and “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 2” correspond to the “user I”; and scores of “1.2”and “4.5” are respectively provided to the “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 1” and the “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 2”. The item type “artist”, the evaluation type“handsome” (provided with numerical values), and the characteristicamount information “coefficient of keyword 1” correspond to the “user1”; and a score of “3.9” is provided to the “coefficient of keyword 1”.The item type “song”, the evaluation type “like or not”, thecharacteristic amount information “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 1” and “coefficient of the music characteristicamount 2” correspond to “user 2”; and scores of “6.0” and “−0.5” arerespectively provided to the “coefficient of the music characteristicamount 1” and the “coefficient of the music characteristic amount 2”.The item type “song”, the evaluation type “like or not”, thecharacteristic amount information “coefficient of the musiccharacteristic amount 1” and “coefficient of the music characteristicamount 2” correspond to “user 3”; and scores of “3.1” and “9.9” arerespectively provided to the “coefficient of the music characteristicamount 1” and the “coefficient of the music characteristic amount 2”.

In FIG. 9, the preference information having the evaluation type “likeor not” or “cool or not” is created by the above described Fisher'sDiscriminant Analysis (FDA), and the evaluation information having thepreference information “handsome” capable of being expressed asnumerical values is created by the above described linear regression.

According to the preference information as shown in FIG. 9, the tendencyof preferences for items may be obtained for every user.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichPresents Tendency of Preference for Items]

Herein, a configuration example of the information processing apparatuswhich presents the tendency of preferences for items for every useraccording to the preference information will be described with referenceto FIG. 10.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 10 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 10, the components other than the item characteristic amountstoring unit 37, the preference information storing unit 40, and thepresentation unit 41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 10, the presentationunit 41 includes a preference information obtaining unit 61 and an itempreference level calculating unit 62.

The preference information obtaining unit 61 obtains, on the basis of aninstruction for selecting the preference information with respect topredetermined evaluation types, which is input through the input unit 21by the user, the preference information according to the evaluation typefrom the preference information storing unit 40. The preferenceinformation obtaining unit 61 supplies the obtained preferenceinformation to the item preference level calculating unit 62.

The item preference level calculating unit 62 obtains, on the basis ofthe item type of the preference information from the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 61, the item characteristic amount from theitem characteristic amount storing unit 37, and calculates an itempreference level indicating a level of preference for an item of theuser. The item preference level calculating unit 62 performs apredetermined process for the calculation result (item preference level)to be supplied to the display unit 22.

[Item Preference Level Calculating Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, an item preference level calculating process according to theinformation processing apparatus in FIG. 10 will be described withreference to a flowchart in FIG. 11.

In step S51, the preference information obtaining unit 61 obtains, onthe basis of an evaluation type which is input through the input unit bythe user, the preference information according to the evaluation typefrom the preference information storing unit 40 and supplies theobtained preference information to the item preference level calculatingunit 62. At this time, the preference information obtained by thepreference information obtaining unit 61 is preference information withrespect to a user who manipulates the input and output apparatus 11. Forexample, in the case where a user 1 manipulates the input and outputapparatus 11 to input an evaluation type which is “cool or not” throughthe input unit 21, the preference information obtaining unit 61 obtainsthe third and fourth preference information from the top in FIG. 9.

In step S52, the item preference level calculating unit 62 obtains, onthe basis of the item type of the preference information from thepreference information obtaining unit 61, en item characteristic amountfrom the item characteristic amount storing unit 37. For example, theitem preference level calculating unit 62 obtains the itemcharacteristic amount having the item type “song” from the itemcharacteristic amount storing unit 37, on the basis of the item typewhich is “song” in the preference information from the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 61.

In step S53, the item preference level calculating unit 62 calculates anitem preference level, on the basis of the preference information fromthe preference information obtaining unit 61 and the item characteristicamount obtained from the item characteristic amount storing unit 37. Forexample, the item preference level calculating unit 62 calculates, onthe basis of scores of “1.2” and “4.5” of “coefficient of musiccharacteristic amount 1” and “coefficient of music characteristic amount2” of the third and fourth preference information the evaluation type is“cool or not”) from the top in FIG. 9, and scores of “3.1” and “9.3” of“music characteristic amount 1” and “music characteristic amount 2” ofthe item characteristic amount of “song A” in FIG. 7, an item preferencelevel of 45.57 (=1.2×3.1+4.5×9.3) for the song A of the user 1.Similarly, the item preference level calculating unit 62 calculates, onthe basis of scores of “1.2” and “4.5” of “coefficient of musiccharacteristic amount 1” and “coefficient of music characteristic amount2” of the third and fourth preference information (the evaluation typeis “cool or not”) from the top in FIG. 9, and scores of “1.2” and “2.2”of “music characteristic amount 1” and “music characteristic amount 2”of the item characteristic amount of “song B” in FIG. 7, an itempreference level of 14.94 (=1.2×4.2+4.5×2.2) for the song B of the user1.

In step S54, the presentation unit 41 supplies an item preference levellist in which the item preference levels calculated by the itempreference level calculating unit 62 are sorted in a descending order tothe display unit 22, for presentation. For example, the presentationunit 41 presents the item preference level for the evaluation type “coolor not” of the user 1 in the order of an item preference level of 14.94for the song B and an item preference level of 45.57 for the song A, asthe item preference level list.

According to the above described process, since the tendency ofpreferences for items of the user can be presented according to thepreference information, the user can recognize the tendency of his orher preferences for items including an item which was not evaluated inthe past by the user. Thus, for example, the user can retrieve his orher preference item.

In the above description, the tendency of the preferences for the itemsof the user has been presented, the level of preference similarity withrespect to other users can be calculated according to the preferenceinformation and items evaluated by other similar users can be presented(recommended).

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichPresents Items Evaluated by Other Users]

Herein, a configuration example of an information processing apparatuswhich calculates a similarity level of preference with respect to otherusers and presents items (recommended items) evaluated by other similarusers will be described with reference to FIG. 12. Hereinafter, a userwho manipulates the input and output apparatus 11 is referred to as thepresent user with respect to the other users.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 12 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 11 nFIG. 12, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the evaluation information storing unit 34, the preference informationstoring unit 40 and the presentation unit 41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 12, the presentationunit 41 includes a preference information obtaining unit 81, a usersimilarity level calculating unit 82, a similar user determining unit83, an item extracting unit 84 and a transmission control unit 65.

The preference information obtaining unit 81 obtains, on the basis of aninstruction for selecting preference information for predeterminedevaluation types, which is input through the input unit 21 by the user,the preference information of each user according to the evaluation typefrom the preference information storing unit 40. The preferenceinformation obtaining unit 81 supplies the obtained preferenceinformation to the user similarity level calculating unit 82.

The user similarity level calculating unit 82 calculates a similaritylevel between the present user and the other users on the basis of thepreference information with respect to each user from the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 81 and the evaluation informationcorresponding to each user, and then supplies the preference informationto which the similarity level is added, to the similar user determiningunit 83.

The similar user determining unit 83 determines other similar users whoare similar to the present user, and other non-similar users who are notsimilar to the present user, on the basis of the preference informationhaving the added similarity level from the user similarity levelcalculating unit 82. The similar user determining unit 83 suppliespreference information according to the similar users and thenon-similar users to the item extracting unit 84.

The item extracting unit 84 extracts from the evaluation informationstoring unit 34 evaluation information by evaluations of the otherusers, on the basis of the preference information according to the othersimilar users and the other non-similar users from the similar userdetermining unit 83, and also extracts corresponding user evaluationfrom the user evaluation storing unit 32. The item extracting unit 84supplies items (item names) in the extracted evaluation information andthe corresponding user evaluations to the display unit 22. The displayunit 22 displays (presents) the item names and the user evaluationssupplied from the item extracting unit 84.

The transmission control unit 85 transmits a message (comment) for thepresented item or the user evaluation which is input through the inputunit 21 by the user to the other users (for example, an input and outputapparatus 11 or the like which is manipulated by the other users).

[Recommendation Item Presentation Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, a recommendation item presentation process in the informationprocessing apparatus in FIG. 12 will be described with reference to aflowchart in FIG. 13.

In step S71, the preference information obtaining unit 81 obtains, onthe basis of evaluation type which is input through the input unit 21 byusers, each users preference information according to the evaluationtypes from the preference information storing unit 40, and then suppliesthe obtained preference information to the user similarity levelcalculating unit 82. For example, in the case where a user 1 manipulatesthe input and output apparatus 11 to input an evaluation type “like ornot” through the input unit 21, the preference information obtainingunit 61 obtains the preference information of users 1, 2 and 3 havingthe evaluation types “like or not” in FIG. 9 from the preferenceinformation storing unit 40, and then supplies the obtained preferenceinformation to the user similarity level calculating unit 82.

In step S72, the user similarity level calculating unit 82 calculates,on the basis of the preference information from the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 81 for each user corresponding to theevaluation type which is input by the users and the evaluationinformation corresponding to each user, a similarity level between thepresent user and the other users, and then supplies the preferenceinformation to which the similarity level is added, to the similar userdetermining unit 83.

Herein, as the similarity level to be calculated, a similarity levelbetween preference information (hereinafter, referred to as a macrosimilarity level), and an inter-user similarity level (hereinafter,referred to as a micro similarity level) in the evaluation informationmay be considered.

The macro similarity level is calculated by calculating a distancebetween the preference information group and its calculation methodbecomes different according to a combination of the evaluation types asshown in FIG. 14.

As shown in FIG. 14, when the combination of the evaluation types is thesame evaluation type (one evaluation type), a purpose of similaritylevel calculation is to retrieve users who are similar in usage(feeling) of a specific evaluation type. When the combination of theevaluation type is the same evaluation type group (a plurality ofevaluation types), a purpose of similarity level calculation is toretrieve users who are similar in usage (feeling) of a specificevaluation type group. Further, when the combination of the evaluationtypes is a different evaluation type (different evaluation types), apurpose of similarity level calculation is to retrieve users who aresimilar in that the evaluation types that overlap between the users'preference information are few.

In the case where the combination of the evaluation types is the sameevaluation type, the similarity level is calculated by simplycalculating the distance between the preference information. In the casewhere the combination of the evaluation type is the same evaluation typegroup, the similarity level is calculated by calculating the distancebetween the preference information with respect to the plurality of theevaluation types, respectively, and calculating an average thereof. Inthe case where the combination of the evaluation types is the differentevaluation type, words which are the evaluation type are expanded orexchanged by a thesaurus or the like, to recognize the words as the sameevaluation type. Further, the similarity level is calculated by adding adistance between the words in the thesaurus to the distance between thepreference information.

Specifically, for example, in the case where the combination of theevaluation types is the same evaluation type, the distance between theevaluation information becomes, for example, a Euclid distance or a Cosdistance when the preference information is expressed as a vector, andbecomes, for example, a Frobenius norm or the like when the preferenceinformation is expressed as a matrix.

For example, in the preference information shown in FIG. 9, a Eucliddistance D₁₂ between the user 1 an the user 2 with respect to theevaluation information “like or not” becomesD₁₂=√((6.0−3.0)²+(−0.5−10.3)²)≅11.3, from the scores in the respectivepreference information. Further, a Euclid distance D₁₃ between the user1 and the user 3 becomes D₁₃=√((3.1−3.0)²+(9.9−10.3)²)=0.5, from thescores in the respective preference information. In addition, if thesimilarity level is a reciprocal number of the distance, the similaritylevel between the user 1 and the user 2 becomes approximately 0.089, andthe similarity level between the user 1 and the user 3 becomes 2.

Meanwhile, the micro similarity level is obtained by comparing the itemsand the evaluation types or the like which are the evaluation targets,in the evaluation information of the users. For example, in the casewhere in the evaluation information of the users, the same evaluationtypes correspond to the same items, or the P/Ns (positive or negative)for the same items are the same regardless of the evaluation types, itis considered that the users are similar. Further, in the case where theevaluation types corresponding to the same items are words (keyword),the similarity level in the thesauruses of the words may be the macrosimilarity level. Herein, noticeable items when the macro similaritylevel is obtained may be items which are especially preferred by users,items which are currently viewed by users, or the like.

In step S72, the user similarity level calculating unit 82 may calculateboth the macro similarity level and the micro similarity level or maycalculate any one of the macro similarity level and the micro similaritylevel.

Returning to the flowchart in FIG. 13, in step S73, the similar userdetermining unit 83 determines the similar users and the non-similarusers on the basis of the preference information having the addedsimilarity level from the user similarity level calculating unit 82. Thesimilar user determining unit 33 supplies the preference informationaccording to the similar users and the non-similar users to the itemextracting unit 84. For example, the similar user determining unit 83sets a predetermined threshold with respect to the macro similaritylevel, sets the users of which the macro similarity level exceeds thepredetermined threshold to the similar users, and sets the users ofwhich the macro similarity level does not exceed the threshold to thenon-similar users. In addition, the users may be simply sorted accordingto the similarity level, instead of by being divided the similarity andnon-similarity according to the similarity level. Moreover, in the casewhere both the macro similarity and the micro similarity are calculated,a combination of the similarity and the non-similarity with respect toeach similarity level is considered. For example, in the case where auser is a similar user in the macro similarity level and a non-similaruser in the micro similarity level, the user becomes a macro-similar andmicro-non-similar user.

In step S74, the item extracting unit 84 extracts, on the basis of thepreference information according to the similar users and thenon-similar users from the similar user determining unit 83, evaluationinformation according to the evaluations of the other users from theevaluation information storing unit 34, and extracts the correspondinguser evaluations from the user evaluation storing unit 32. The itemextracting unit 84 supplies items (names) in the extracted evaluationinformation and corresponding user evaluations to the display unit 22.

In step S75, the display unit 22 displays (presents) the name of theitem names and the user evaluations supplied from the item extractingunit 34.

For example, the item extracting unit 84 extracts, on the basis of thesimilar users' preference information, evaluation information in whichan item which has not been evaluated (viewed) by the present user ishighly evaluated by the similar users from the evaluation informationstoring unit 34. In addition, the item extracting unit 84 extracts theuser evaluation corresponding to the extracted evaluation informationfrom the user evaluation storing unit 32. At this time, for example, asdisclosed in the non-patent document 1, on the basis of similarity andnon-similarity (correlation coefficients of evaluation values) of theplurality of other users, prediction evaluation values of the items maybe calculated, and the evaluation information with respect to the itemsmay be extracted. Further, evaluations of the other users are calculatedon the basis of the extracted user evaluations, for example, totalinformation of the number of positive evaluations, the number ofnegative evaluations or the like may be generated for presentation.

Moreover, if there is an item evaluated by other users among items whichhas been (is being) evaluated or viewed by the present user, the itemextracting unit 84 extracts and presents the corresponding userevaluation and evaluation information. At this time, for example, in thecase where a certainty factor in the evaluation information is smallerthan a predetermined value, the corresponding user evaluation may not bepresented.

In addition, in a field of community services on a network such as anSNS (Social Networking Service), names or icons of other users (similarand non-similar users) may be presented.

Further, in the case where both the macro similarity level and the microsimilarity level are calculated, the following presentation may be givenaccording to the combination of the similarity and non-similarity foreach similarity level in the other users.

a) Case of Macro-Similar and Micro-Similar User

As described above, items or user evaluations are presented.

b) Case of Macro-Similar and Micro-Non-Similar User

An attribute of the target item which is evaluated by another user asthe user evaluation is presented to the present user in a highlightedmanner. Further, in the case where polarity (P/N) is included in theevaluation information, evaluation information, which is evaluationinformation with respect to the evaluation target item and has anopposite polarity to the polarity of the evaluation informationaccording to the present user, is presented. For example, according tothe preference information in FIG. 9, the user 1 and the user 3 have ahigh macro similarity level, but according to the user evaluation inFIG. 3, the user 1 evaluates the same song A as “cool”, but theevaluation of user 3 is that “voice is a bit grating”, and thus, themicro similarity level is low. In this case, for example, ‘the user 3said “The voice in song A is a bit grating”’ or the like is presented.

Accordingly, the user can recognize the other users' feelings withrespect to the item.

c) Case of Macro Non-Similar and Micro-Similar User

The degree to which the macro similarity level regarding another user islow is presented to the present user. Specifically, all images of themacro-non-similar and micro-similar user (for example, preferable genreor top 10 artists or the like of the user (or user group)) arepresented. For example, in the case where the user 1 who likes rockmusic evaluates a song C as positive, whereas another user who gives apositive evaluation for the song C mainly likes techno music, the otheruser may give a presentation such as “it seems that there are manytechno fans among those who give the positive evaluations for the songC” to the user. Further, even in the case of the name positiveevaluation, in the case where the user 1 gives an evaluations of a thicksound with a high tempo, whereas most of other users highly evaluate thevocals having an effect applied thereto, a presentation such as “itseems that there are many people who like the vocals having an effectapplied thereto” may be given.

Accordingly, the user 1 can evaluate the previously evaluated song froma new point of view.

That is, the above described presentation pattern may be designated bythe user or may be determined according to the combination of thesimilarity and the non-similarity.

Returning to the flowchart in FIG. 13, in step S76, the transmissioncontrol unit 85 transmits a message (for example, “I agree with you”)corresponding to a presented item or a user evaluation which is inputthrough the input unit 21 by the user, to other users (for example,input and output apparatuses 11 or the like manipulated by the otherusers). Further, the transmission control unit 85 supplies informationindicating the other users who transmit messages such as “I agree withyou” to the user similarity level calculating unit 82, and the usersimilarity calculating unit 82 calculates the previously calculatedsimilarity level as a similarity level which is, for example, a times(α>1) when the similarity level is newly calculated with respect to theother users.

According to the above described process, an item which has not beenevaluated (viewed) can be recognized or a new point of a known item canbe found. In addition, even though the user did not evaluate the sameitem in the past, the user can find similar users whose preferences oremotions are similar on the basis of the characteristic of the item.Moreover, specific evaluations for the item of the similar users (ornon-similar users) can be recognized.

In the above description, the similarity level of preferences withrespect to the other users is calculated according to the preferenceinformation, and the item evaluated by the other similar users ispresented, but a similar evaluation type may be presented according tothe preference information.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichPresents Similar Evaluation Type]

Herein, a configuration example of the information processing apparatuswhich presents a similar evaluation type will be described withreference to FIG. 15.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 15 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 15, the components other than the preference information storingunit 40 and the presentation unit 41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 12, the presentationunit 41 includes a preference information obtaining unit 101 and anevaluation type similarity level calculating unit 102.

The preference information obtaining unit 101 obtains, on the basis ofan instruction for selecting the preference information on the pluralityof evaluation types which is input through the input unit 21 by theuser, the plurality of preference information according to theevaluation type from the preference information storing unit 40. Thepreference information obtaining unit 101 supplies the obtainedpreference information to the evaluation type similarity levelcalculating unit 102.

The evaluation type similarity level calculating unit 102 calculates thesimilarity level of the evaluation types with respect to one preferenceinformation and the other preference information among the plurality ofpreference information from the preference information obtaining unit101, and displays the result to the display unit 22.

[Similar Evaluation Type Presentation Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, a similar evaluation type presentation process according to theinformation processing apparatus in FIG. 15 will be described withreference to a flowchart in FIG. 16.

In step S91, the preference information obtaining unit 101 obtains, onthe basis of the plurality of evaluation types which is input throughthe input unit 21 by the user, the plurality of preference informationof the present user according to the evaluation types from thepreference information storing unit 40, and then supplies the obtainedpreference information to the evaluation type similarity levelcalculating unit 102.

In step S92, the evaluation type similarity level calculating unit 102calculates the similarity levels according to the evaluation types withrespect to one preference information and the other preferenceinformation among the plurality of the preference information from thepreference information obtaining unit 101, and then supplies the resultto the display unit 22. For example, the evaluation type similaritylevel calculating unit 102 calculates a distance according to each scorewith respect to the preference information having the evaluation type“like or not” and the other preference information among the pluralityof preference information, thereby calculating the similarity levels ofthe evaluation types. The evaluation type which becomes a standard ofthe calculation of the similarity levels (for example, “like or not”)may be selected by the user, or may be the evaluation type which isfrequently used by the user.

In step S93, the display unit 22 displays (presents), on the basis ofthe similarity levels which are calculated by the evaluation typesimilarity level calculating unit 102, the evaluation types (similarevaluation types) of the similarity levels larger than a predeterminedvalue. In addition, the display unit 22 may display the evaluation typeshaving the similarity levels calculated by the evaluation typesimilarity level calculating unit 102 in a descending order of thesimilarity levels.

In the above description, the evaluation types which are similar to oneevaluation type are presented on the basis of the distance betweenpreference information with respect to the present user, bitcharacteristic evaluation types may be presented to the present useraccording to the distance between preference information with respect toother users.

For example, with respect to the plurality of users (for example, allusers), an average vector μ and a covariance matrix Σ are created fromthe preference information (expressed as a transformation vector) for apredetermined evaluation type. The degree that preference informationS_(u) of the present user is deviated from the average vector μ iscalculated on the basis of the created average vector μ and thecovariance matrix Σ, thereby presenting differences in the preferencetypes of the other users. For example, in the case whereMahalanobis'generalized distance ((S_(u)−μ)^(T)Σ(S_(u)−μ)^(1/2) is equalto or more than 1, since it is considered that usage of the evaluationtype (semantic aspect) is different from those of the other users, “Yourusage of OO is a bit different from those of the other users” or thelike is presented. The presented evaluation type may be determined by,for example, usage frequency thereof.

Further, for example, “you often give a ‘cool’ evaluation” or the likemay be presented with respect to an evaluation type having a high usagefrequency.

In addition, among similar evaluation types, the evaluation type havingthe highest score in the preference information corresponding to acharacteristic amount designated by the user or a characteristic amountwhich is the most characteristic (deviation from the average value ofall items) in contents (items) which are currently viewed, may bepresented.

Further, when calculating the similarity level, with respect to anevaluation type pair including two predetermined evaluation types, inthe case where a path length in a tree structure defining a thesaurus islong, and a distance between corresponding preference information isshort, and also in the case where the path length is short and thedistance between the preference information is long, usage of theevaluation type pair by the user may be determined to be abnormal.

Hereinbefore, a configuration in which similar users or items evaluatedby the similar users are presented as information on the basis of thepreference information is described, but the similar users or the itemsevaluated by the similar users may be displayed in a space.

2. Second Embodiment

Hereinafter, an example of a space display of an item (visualization)will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 to 31. The number ofdimensions in the space on which the item is displayed may be random,but hereinafter it will be described as having two dimensions.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichSpace-Displays Item]

Firstly, a configuration example of the information processing apparatuswhich space-displays an item will be described with reference to FIG.17.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 17 has basically thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 17, the components other than the item characteristic amountstoring unit 37, the preference information storing unit 40 and thepresentation unit 41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 17, the presentationunit 41 includes a preference information obtaining unit 121, an itempreference level calculating unit 122 and a display control unit 123.

The preference information obtaining unit 121 obtains, on the basis ofan instruction for obtaining preference information corresponding toevaluation types, which is input through the input unit 21 by the userand defines a space, the preference information according to theevaluation types from the preference information storing unit 40. Thepreference information obtaining unit 121 supplies the obtainedpreference information to the item preference level calculating unit122.

Further, the preference information obtaining unit 121 includes acoordinate axis determining unit 121 a. The coordinate axis determiningunit 121 a determines, on the basis of an instruction for obtainingpreference information corresponding to evaluation types defining thespace, which is input through the input unit 21 by the user, coordinateaxes for defining the space in which items are displayed, and suppliesthe determined coordinate axes to the display control unit 123 throughthe item preference level calculating unit 122 as space definitioninformation.

The item preference level calculating unit 122 obtains, on the basis ofitem types of the preference information from the preference informationobtaining unit 121, item characteristic amounts from the itemcharacteristic amount storing unit 37, and calculates item preferencelevel indicating the level of preferences for the items of the users.The item preference level calculating unit 122 performs a predeterminedprocess for the calculation results to be supplied to the displaycontrol unit 123.

The display control unit 123 displays, on the basis of the spacedefinition information from the coordinate axis determining unit 121 aand the item preference level from the item preference level calculatingunit 122, the item preference levels in the space (two-dimensionalplane).

[Item Preference Level Space Display Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, an item preference level space display process in the informationprocessing apparatus in FIG. 17 will be described with reference to aflowchart in FIG. 18.

In step S111, the preference information obtaining unit 121 obtains, onthe basis of the evaluation types which are input through the input unit21 by the users, the preference information according to the evaluationtypes from the evaluation information storing unit 40, and then suppliesthe obtained preference information to the item preference levelcalculating unit 122

In step S112, the coordinate axis determining unit 121 a determines thecoordinate axes on the basis of the evaluation types which are inputthrough the input unit 21 by the user, and supplies the coordinate axesto the display control unit 123 through the item preference levelcalculating unit 122 as the space definition information. For example,the coordinate axis determining unit 121 a sets the transformationresult according to the FDA for the evaluation type “like” (innerproduct of a characteristic amount vector (item characteristic amount)and a transformation vector (preference information)) to the x axis, thetransformation result according to the FDA for the evaluation type“cool” to the y axis.

In step S113, the item preference level calculating unit 122 obtains, onthe basis of an item type of the preference information from thepreference information obtaining unit 121, the item characteristicamount from the item characteristic amount storing unit 37.

In step S114, the item preference level calculating unit 122 calculatesan item preference level on the basis of the preference information(transformation vector) from the preference information obtaining unit121 and the item characteristic amount (characteristic vector) obtainedfrom the item characteristic amount storing unit 37, and then suppliesthe calculated item preference to the display control unit 123.

In step S115, the display control unit 123 displays, on the basis of thespace definition information from the coordinate axis determining unit121 a and the item preference level from the item preference levelcalculating unit 122, the item preference level in the space(two-dimensional plane). At this time, for example, as shown in the leftside in FIG. 19, according to whether the item is known or unknown tothe user, the color of a point indicating the item may be changed.

In FIG. 19, the evaluation type “like” is represented in the transverseaxis, the evaluation type “cool” is displayed in the longitudinal axis.Here, black circles are displayed as known items and white circles aredisplayed as unknown items. The items in the space are not limited tothe black circles and the white circles shown in FIG. 19, for example,the items may be icons of images or the like which are related to theitems, or may be circles having sizes corresponding to the viewfrequencies of the users.

Information about the view frequencies of the user or whether the itemsare known or unknown to the user represents bias of experiences of theuser for the items. Accordingly, in order to emphasize the items to beexperienced from that time, as shown in the left side of FIG. 19, in aregion where many items which are not experienced by the user aredistributed, for example, the coordinate axes may be exponentiallytransformed to broadly show the space. In the right side of FIG. 19,since the unknown items are distributed in the upper left region, in thespace (on the plane surface), it is processed so that the upper leftregion is to be broadly shown.

Further, characteristic amounts having characteristic distribution maybe displayed in the space. The preference information is created on thebasis of the degree of relevance between a certain evaluation type and acertain characteristic amount (a regression coefficient in the case ofthe regression equation, a component value corresponding to thecharacteristic amount in the case of a transformation vector of theFDA). Accordingly, for example, in the case where the item preferencelevels are space-displayed according to the FDA of the evaluation types“like” and “cool”, a name of the characteristic amount having a largecomponent value of the transformation vector of each evaluation type maybe represented together with the names of the axes (“like and “cool”),in addition, a base having the largest size (square sum) according tothe preference information may be selected, and the characteristicamount vectors (live music, tempo) may be displayed while overlapped inthe space, as shown in FIG. 20. For example, if a 2×F transformationmatrix of the FDP (F is the number of characteristic amounts) isT=(t_(ij)), characteristic amounts f₁ and f₂ which are displayed in anoverlapped manner in the space are determined by the following formula1.

$\begin{matrix}{{f_{1} = {\underset{f}{\arg \; \max}\left( {t_{1\; f}^{2} + t_{2f}^{2}} \right)}}{f_{2} = {\underset{f \neq f_{1}}{\arg \; \max}\left( {t_{1f}^{2} + t_{2f}^{2}} \right)}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

In formula 1, the argmax ( ) having an under f thereof represents amaximum value in a parenthesis ( ) in a range of f.

According to the process, since the tendency of preferences for itemsfor every user can be displayed (visualized) in the space according tothe preference information, the user can intuitively recognize thetendency of his or her preferences for the items, including items whichare not previously evaluated by the user. Thus, for example, the usercan effectively retrieve his or her preference items.

In the above description, the preference tendency for the items isdisplayed in the space, names according to distribution of thepreference tendency may be displayed in the space.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichDisplays Space Name]

Hereinafter, a configuration example of an information processingapparatus which displays a space name will be described with referenceto FIG. 21.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 21 has the same functionas the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. In FIG. 21, thecomponents other than the item characteristic amount storing unit 37,the preference information storing unit 40 and the presentation unit 41are not described.

In the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 21, the same names and referencesare used with respect to the components having the same functions asthose provided in the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 17 and descriptionthereof will be omitted as necessary.

In the presentation 41 in FIG. 21, a difference with respect to thepresentation unit 41 in FIG. 17 is that a covariance matrix calculatingunit 141 and a space name determining unit 142 are newly installed and adisplay control unit 143 is installed instead of the display controlunit 123.

The covariance matrix calculating unit 141 calculates a covariancematrix in the coordinate axes of an item to which the evaluation type isadded for each evaluation type in the space where the item preferencelevels are displayed.

The space name determining unit 142 calculates dispersion for everyevaluation type for the coordinate axes on the basis of the covariancematrix calculated by the covariance matrix calculating unit 141, anduses evaluation types having the dispersion smaller than a predeterminedvalue as display targets which are the space names.

The display control unit 143 displays the space names determined by thespace name determining unit 142 in the space, in addition to thefunction which is provided with the display control unit 123 in FIG. 17.

[Space Name Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a space name display process in the information processingapparatus in FIG. 21 will be described with reference to a flowchart inFIG. 22.

In step S131, the covariance matrix calculating unit 141 calculates acovariance matrix in the coordinate axes of the item to which theevaluation type is added for each evaluation type in the space where theitem preference levels are displayed. More specifically, since the spacewhere the item preference levels are displayed is two-dimensional, thecovariance matrix for an evaluation type L is expressed by the followingformula 2.

$\begin{matrix}{A^{(L)} = \begin{pmatrix}A_{11}^{(L)} & A_{12}^{(L)} \\A_{21}^{(L)} & A_{22}^{(L)}\end{pmatrix}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

Herein, the evaluation types used for calculating the item preferencelevels (that is determined in the coordinate axis) are not covered bythe calculation of the covariance matrix.

In step S132, the space name determining unit 142 calculates dispersionfor every evaluation type for the coordinate axes on the basis of thecovariance matrix calculated by the covariance matrix calculating unit141, and sets evaluation types having the dispersion smaller than apredetermined value as display targets which are the space names. Morespecifically, the space name determining unit 142 calculates an averagevalue (average dispersion p) of dispersion (diagonal components of thecovariance matrix) with respect to all the evaluation types, and setsthe evaluation types having the dispersion less than predetermined times(for example, 0.5 times) of the average dispersion to the displaytargets. The average dispersion μ is expressed as μ=diag (Σ_(L)A^((L))/N_(L)) when the N_(L) is a type number of the evaluation types.Herein, diag ( ) is a function extracting vectors from the diagonalcomponents of the matrix. Accordingly, for respective evaluation typesL, the evaluation types L in which A^((L)) _(ii)/μ_(i) (in the case oftwo dimensions, i=1, 2) becomes less than 0.5 are determined as thespace names. That is, the evaluation types L satisfying this conditionfor one axis may be determined as the space names, or the evaluationtypes L satisfying this condition with respect to all the axes may bedetermined as the space names.

In step S133, the display control unit 143 displays the space namesdetermined by the space name determining unit 142, for example, in thespace as shown in FIG. 23. In FIG. 23, with respect to each evaluationtype which is determined as the space names (lyric, refreshing andcool), an ellipse having standard deviations for the axes (transverseaxis and longitudinal axis) as a long axis and a short axis is drawncentering around an average vector in the space, of the items which aregiven the evaluation type, and then the names of the evaluation typesare displayed. Further, with respect to each evaluation type which isdetermined as the space names, the covariance matrix thereof iscalculated, and thus, the ellipse which is suitable for the distributionof the items may be drawn.

In the above description, the ellipse which surrounds the itemsdistributed in the space for every evaluation type is displayed, but theevaluation types may be displayed as scales of the axes as shown in FIG.21.

In order to display the evaluation types as the scales of the axes,since it is preferable that the respective evaluation types are notoverlapped on the axes, for example the scales are displayed withrespect to the axes having a large dispersion of an average value on theaxes (having a broad interval between the scales), of the items whichare given the respective evaluation types. For example, if an averagevector in the two-dimensional space, of the items which are given theevaluation types L is μ_(L)=(μ_(L1), μ_(L2)), the dispersion of theaverage value on the “like” axis in FIG. 24 becomes v₁=var (μ₁₁, μ₁₂, .. . , μ_(NL1)). Herein, the var(x) is a function for calculatingdispersion of x. Further, the dispersion of the average value on the“handsome” axis becomes v₂=var (μ₂₁, μ₂₂, . . . , μ_(NL2)). Herein, withrespect to the axes in which the dispersions v₁ and v₂ are larger than apredetermined threshold, the evaluation types are displayed as thescales. In FIG. 24, the dispersion v₁ on the “like” axis becomes largerthan the predetermined threshold, and evaluation types such as“lyrical”, “refreshing” and “cool” are displayed as the scales.

Further, for example, the scales may be displayed with respect to axesin which the dispersion of intervals of the items which are given therespective evaluation types is small (scales are inclined atpredetermined intervals).

According to the above described process, since information with respectto other preferences can be displayed (visualized) in the space on whichthe tendency of the preferences for the items is displayed, the user canintuitively recognize the tendency of his or her preferences for theitems. Accordingly, for example, the user can effectively retrieve hisor her preference items.

In the above description, a configuration in which the tendency of thepreferences for the items is displayed in the space or names accordingto the distribution of the preference tendency are displayed in thespace is described, but a specific item may be displayed to be a centerof the space.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichDisplays Specific Item in Center of Space]

Hereinafter, a configuration example of an information processingapparatus which displays a specific item in the center of the space willbe described with reference to FIG. 25.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 25 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 25, the components other than the item characteristic amountstoring unit 37, the preference information storing unit 40 and thepresentation unit 41 are not described.

In the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 25, the same names and referencesare used with respect to the component having the same function as thoseprovided in the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 17, and description thereofwill be omitted as necessary.

That is in the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 25, a difference withrespect to the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 17 is that a partial spacecreating unit 161 and an average vector calculating unit 162 are newlyinstalled and a display control, unit 163 is installed instead of thedisplay control unit 123.

The partial space creating unit 161 creates a plurality of partialspaces including preference information (space including several piecesof preference information from among all the preference information).

The average vector calculating unit 162 calculates an average vector ofitem preference levels in the respective partial spaces which arecreated by the partial space creating unit 161.

The display control unit 163 displays a partial space in which adesignated item is nearest to the average vector which is calculated bythe average vector calculating unit 162, in addition to the functionwhich is provided with the display control unit 123 in FIG. 17.

[Coordinate Axis Changing Process Displaying Item Preference LevelDisplay Space in Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a coordinate axis changing process displaying item preferencelevel display space in an information processing apparatus in FIG. 25will be described with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 26.

In step S151, the partial space creating unit 161 creates a plurality ofpartial spaces including preference information. For example, in thecase where the number of preference information is 5 and two-dimensionalpartial spaces are created, the partial space creating unit 161 createspartial spaces of ₅C₂=10.

In step S152, the average vector calculating unit 162 calculates anaverage vector of item preference levels in the respective partialspaces which are created by the partial space creating unit 161.

In step S153, the display control unit 163 displays, for example, apartial space in which the item designated by the user is closest to theaverage vector calculated by the average vector calculating unit 162 inthe Euclid distance or the like. The item may be designated by the user.Alternatively, an item which is being currently viewed may beautomatically selected.

According to the above described process, the specific item may bedisplayed to be the center of the space in the space where the itempreference level is displayed.

In the above description, a configuration in which one specific item isdisplayed to be the center of the space is described, a specific itemgroup may be displayed to be optimally clustered.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichClusters Specific Item Group]

Hereinafter, a configuration example of the information processingapparatus which clusters a specific item group will be described withreference to FIG. 27.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 27 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 27, the components other than the item characteristic amountstoring unit 37, the preference information storing unit 40 and thepresentation unit 41 are not described.

In the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 27, the same names and referencesare used with respect to the components having the same functions asthose provided in the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 17, and descriptionthereof will be omitted as necessary.

That is, in the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 27, a difference withrespect to the presentation unit 41 in FIG. 17 is that a partial spacecreating unit 181, a clustering unit 182 and a designated clusterdetermining unit 183 are newly installed and a display control unit 184is installed instead of the display control unit 123.

The partial space creating unit 181 creates a plurality of partialspaces including preference information (space including several piecesof preference information from among all the preference information).

The clustering unit 182 clusters the item preference levels in therespective partial spaces which are created by the partial spacecreating unit 181.

The designated cluster determining unit 183 determines a cluster towhich a designated item group belongs in each partial space.

The display control unit 184 displays a partial space corresponding to acluster in which the designated item group is most included, in additionto the function that is provided with the display control unit 123 inFIG. 17.

[Coordinate Axis Changing Process Displaying Item Preference LevelDisplay Space in Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a coordinate axis changing process displaying an item preferencelevel display space in an information processing apparatus in FIG. 27will be described with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 28.

In step S171, the partial space creating unit 181 creates a plurality ofpartial spaces including the preference information. For example, in thecase where the preference information is five and two-dimensionalpartial spaces are created, the partial space creating unit 181 createspartial spaces of ₅C₂=10.

In step S172, the clustering unit 182 clusters the item preferencelevels using the k-means clustering or the like, in the respectivepartial spaces which are created by the partial space creating unit 181.

In step S173, the designated cluster determining unit 183 determines,for example, a cluster to which the item group designated by the userbelongs in each partial space. At this time, a maximum value of thedesignated item group which is included in the same cluster is set to asufficiency level. The item group may be designated by the user.Alternatively, an item having strong relevancy to the item which isbeing currently viewed may be automatically selected.

In step S174, the display control unit 184 displays the partial spacecorresponding to the cluster in which the designated item group is mostincluded. That is, the partial space having the largest sufficiencylevel is displayed. It may be considered that the partial space havingthe largest sufficiency level optimally displays clustering of thedesignated item group.

According to the above described process, the specific item group may bedisplayed to be optimally clustered in the space where the itempreference level is displayed.

In the above description, the configuration in which the item preferencelevel is displayed in the space on the basis of the preferenceinformation of the present user is described. However, the itempreference level may be displayed in the space on the basis of the otherusers' preference information. At this time by selecting similar usersas the other users, a new insight regarding the evaluation of the itemcan be expected.

Further, in the above description, the tendency of the preferences forthe items is displayed on the basis of the preference information, butrelevancy between preferences for the plurality of items may bedisplayed on the basis of the link information.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichDisplays Relevancy Between Preferences for Plurality of Items]

A configuration example of an information processing apparatus whichdisplays relevancy between preferences for a plurality of items will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 29.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 29 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 29, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the link information storing unit 35, the item characteristic amountstoring unit 37 and the presentation unit 41 are not illustrated.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 29, the presentationunit 41 includes a coordinate axis determining unit 201 and a displaycontrol unit 202.

The coordinate axis determining unit 201 determines coordinate axes fordefining a space in which an item is displayed, on the basis of aninstruction for determining the coordinate axes which is input throughthe input unit 21 by the user, and then supplies the determinedcoordinate axes to the display control unit 202 as the space definitioninformation.

Further, the coordinate axis determining unit 201 includes an averagelink length calculating unit 201 a. The average link length calculatingunit 201 a calculates, on the basis of the link information which isrecorded in the link information storing unit 35, and the itemcharacteristic amounts which are recorded in the item characteristicamount storing unit 37, an average (average link length) of distancesbetween item characteristic amounts of the items corresponding to thelink information for every characteristic amount type.

The display control unit 202 displays the item characteristic amounts ofthe corresponding items in the link information in the space(two-dimensional plane).

[Link Information Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a link information display process in an information processingapparatus in FIG. 29 will be described with reference to a flowchart inFIG. 30.

In step S191, the average link length calculating unit 201 a, if aninstruction for determining the coordinate axes input from the inputunit 21, calculates an average link length (hereinafter, referred to asuser average link length l_(f)) in the respective item characteristicamounts, with respect to the link information given by the user of theinput and output apparatus 11. For example, the average link lengthcalculating unit 201 a calculates distances between the itemcharacteristic amounts based on the music characteristic amounts 1 and 2in the corresponding item characteristic amounts (FIG. 7), with respectto the link information (FIG. 5) which corresponds to the song A and thesong B, given by the user 1. The average link length calculating unit201 a also calculates the distances between the item characteristicamounts with respect to the other item (song) corresponding to the linkinformation and sets the average thereof as the average link length.

In step S192, the average link length calculating unit 201 a calculatesan average link length (hereinafter, referred to as other user averagelink length l_(fn)) in the respective item characteristic amounts byperforming the same process as the step S191 with respect to the linkinformation given by other users who are different from the user of theinput and output apparatus 11.

In step S193, the coordinate axis determining unit 201 selects twocharacteristic amounts (characteristic amount types) in which the useraverage link length l_(f) becomes a relatively large value and the otheruser average link length l_(fn) becomes a relatively small value anddetermines them as coordinate axes, determines the selectedcharacteristic amounts as the coordinate axes, and then supplies thedetermined coordinate axes as the space definition information. Morespecifically, the coordinate axis determining unit 201 selects thecharacteristic amounts in which l_(fu)/l_(f) becomes a minimum as thecoordinate axes.

In step S194, the display control unit 202 displays the items in thespace (two-dimensional plane) where the characteristic amounts selectedby the coordinate axis determining unit 201 are the coordinate axes, asshown in FIG. 31, on the basis of the space definition information fromthe coordinate axis determining unit 201.

In FIG. 31, the corresponding (link-extended) items by the other usersare displayed in the two-dimensional plane. The two-dimensional plane inFIG. 31 is configured so that the transverse axis is a rhythm variation(characteristic amount 5) and the longitudinal axis is the density ofthe sound (characteristic amount 4). Further, there are two pairs ofitems link-extended by the user 3 in the two-dimensional plane in FIG.31. In the figure, the pair in the right side is relatively close to therhythm variation (transverse axis), and is given a user evaluation “songA and song B are interesting with rhythm changing at a bewildering pace”by the user 3. The user evaluation is appropriately read from the userevaluation storing unit 32 by the display control unit 202. In addition,in the figure, the pair in the left side is relatively close to thedensity of the sound (longitudinal axis) and is given a user evaluation“depth of sound of song C recalls song D” by the user 3.

According to the above described process, the corresponding items in thelink information can be displayed in the space. Accordingly, the presentuser can recognize other users evaluations for the items to which thepresent user thought had no relevancy to himself or herself, and canobtain a new insight.

In the above description, the corresponding items in the linkinformation are displayed in the space. However, for example, inter-itemnetwork structures, which are link-extended with respect to the itemswhich are given the same evaluation types, may be displayed in thetwo-dimensional space according to the Spring Model as disclosed inSugiyama, K., Misue, K., “graph Drawing by the Magnetic-Spring model”,Journal of Visual Languages and computing, 6(3), pp. 217-231, 1995.,with the link information.

3. Third Embodiment

In the above description, the example of the space display(visualization) of the items is described. However, hereinafter, anexample of the space display (visualization) of the user will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 32 to 42. That is, the number ofdimensions of the space in which the user is displayed is arbitrary, butthe two-dimensional space is exemplified hereinafter.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichSpace-Displays Users]

Firstly, a configuration example of an information processing apparatuswhich space-displays the user will be described with reference to FIG.32.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 32 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 32, the components other than a user evaluation storing unit 32, apreference information storing unit 40 and a presentation unit 41 arenot described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 32, the presentationunit 41 includes a user selecting unit 221, a preference informationobtaining unit 222, a user characteristic amount matrix creating unit223, a space creating unit 224 and a display control unit 225.

The user selecting unit 221 selects a user group to be space-displayedon the basis of an instruction for selecting users (user group) to bespace-displayed, which is input through the input unit 21 by the user,and supplies information indicating the user group to the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 222.

The preference information obtaining unit 222 obtains from thepreference information storing unit 40, on the basis of an instructionfor obtaining the preference information corresponding to predeterminedevaluation types, which is input through the input unit 21 by the user,the preference information of the user indicated by the information fromthe user selecting unit 221 corresponding to the evaluation types. Thepreference information obtaining unit 222 supplies the obtainedpreference information to the user-characteristic amount matrix creatingunit 223.

The user-characteristic amount matrix creating unit 223 creates auser-characteristic amount matrix on the basis of the preferenceinformation from the preference information obtaining unit 222 andsupplies the user-characteristic amount matrix to the space creatingunit 224.

The space creating unit 224 compresses the user-characteristic amountmatrix from the user-characteristic amount matrix creating unit 223 tocreate the space.

The display control unit 225 displays the user in the space which iscreated by the space creating unit 224.

[User Space Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a user space display process in an information processingapparatus in FIG. 32 will be described with reference to a flowchart inFIG. 33.

In step S211, the user selecting unit 221 selects the user group whospace-displays on the basis of an instruction for selecting users (usergroup) to be space-displayed, which is input through the input unit 21by the user, and supplies information indicating the user group to thepreference information obtaining unit 222. The selected user group(class) is set to U.

In step S212, the preference information obtaining unit 222 obtainscorresponding preference information from the preference informationstoring unit 40, on the basis of an evaluation types L which are inputthrough the input unit 21 by the user, with respect to each user of theuser class U which is selected by the user selecting unit 221. In stepS211, in the case where no user is selected, the preference informationwith respect to all users corresponding to the input evaluation type Lmay be obtained. That is, the obtained preference information is, forexample, a transformation vector of the FDA, and the transformationvector for a user u (uεU) is set as t_(u). The preference informationobtaining unit 222 supplies the obtained preference information(transformation vector t_(u)) to the user-characteristic amount matrixcreating unit 223.

In step S213, the user-characteristic amount matrix creating unit 223creates a user-characteristic amount matrix by arranging thetransformation vectors t_(u) from the preference information obtainingunit 222 in rows and lining up the rows with respect to each user u ofthe user class U, and then supplies the created user-characteristicamount matrix to the space creating unit 224.

In step S214, the space creating unit 224 creates a two-dimensionalspace by compressing the user-characteristic amount matrix from theuser-characteristic amount matrix creating unit 223, for example, usingthe PCA (Principal Component Analysis).

In step S215, the display control unit 225 display the user in thetwo-dimensional space which is created by the space creating unit 224 asshown in FIG. 34.

In FIG. 34, each user indicated by circles is arranged and displayed inthe two-dimensional plane. In an original point (intersection of thetransverse axis and the longitudinal axis), “you” who is the presentuser is displayed, and a user 3, a user 5, a user 8, a user 12 and thelike who are other users are displayed. In FIG. 34, by arranging thepresent user in the original point, distances with respect to the otherusers can be easily recognized, but the present user is not necessarilyarranged in the original point, and may be appropriately rotated orshifted in parallel. In addition, by putting a pointer of a mouse in thecircle indicating the user 3 on the display unit 22, a name of an item(song A) to which the input evaluation type is added or a correspondinguser evaluation (“The voice in song A is a bit grating”) may bedisplayed. Further, two characteristic amounts having large componentvalues of characteristic vectors which are generated by the principalcomponent analysis may be names of axes corresponding to thecharacteristic vectors. For example, in FIG. 34, the name of thetransverse axis is “tempo” the characteristic amount and the name of thelongitudinal axis is “level of live music” as the characteristic amount.

According to the above described process, since the users can bedisplayed (visualization) on the basis of the preference informationwith respect to a predetermined evaluation types, a different pointcompared with the other users evaluations can be recognized even in thecase of the same evaluation type.

[Another Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichSpace-Displays Users]

Next, an another configuration example of an information processingapparatus which space-displays users will be described with reference toFIG. 35.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 35 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 35, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the evaluation information storing unit 34 and the presentation unit 41are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 35, the presentationunit 41 includes a user selecting unit 241, an evaluation informationobtaining unit 242, a user item matrix creating unit 243, a spacecreating unit 244 and a display control unit 245.

Since the user selecting unit 241 in FIG. 35 has the same function asthe user selecting unit 221 in FIG. 32, description thereof is omitted.

The evaluation information obtaining unit 242 obtains from theevaluation information storing unit 34, on the basis of an instructionfor selecting the evaluation information corresponding to predeterminedevaluation types, which is input through the input unit 21 by the user,the user evaluation information indicated by information from the userselecting unit 221 corresponding to the evaluation type. The evaluationinformation obtaining unit 242 supplies the obtained evaluationinformation to the user item matrix creating unit 243.

The user item matrix creating unit 243 creates a user-item matrix, onthe basis of the evaluation information for every user from theevaluation information obtaining unit 242, and then the createduser-item matrix to the space creating unit 244.

The space creating unit 244 compresses the user-item matrix from theuser item matrix creating unit 243 to create the space.

The display control unit 245 displays the users in the space which iscreated by the space creating unit 244.

[User Space Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a user space display process in an information processingapparatus in FIG. 33 will be described with reference to a flowchart inFIG. 36.

In step S231, the user selecting unit 241 selects, on the basis of aninstruction for selecting users (user group) to be space-displayed,which is input through the input unit by the user, the user group to bespace-displayed, and then supplies information indicating the user groupto the evaluation information obtaining unit 242. The selected usergroup (class) is set to U.

In step S232, the evaluation information obtaining unit 242 obtains, onthe basis of the evaluation types L which are input through the inputunit 21 by the user, for each user of the user class U selected by theuser selecting unit 241, corresponding evaluation information from theevaluation information storing unit 34. In step S231, in the case whereno user is selected, the evaluation information with respect to allusers corresponding to the input evaluation types L may be obtained.Here, the obtained each user's evaluation information is a vector wherethe number of the items is the number of dimensions and the intensity isthe component value, and an item vector for the user u (uεU) is set tor_(u). The preference information obtaining unit 242 supplies theobtained evaluation information (item vector r_(u)) to the user itemmatrix creating unit 243.

In step S233, the user item matrix creating unit 243 creates theuser-item matrix by arranging the item vectors r_(u) from the evaluationinformation obtaining unit 242 in rows and lining up the rows for eachuser u of the user class U, and then supplies the created matrix to thespace creating unit 244.

In step S234, the space creating unit 244 compresses the user-itemmatrix from the user-item matrix creating unit 243, for example, usingthe Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) disclosed in S. C. Deerwester, S. T.Dumais, T. K. Landauer, G. W. Furnas, and R. A. Harshman, “Indexing bylatent semantic analysis” Journal of the American Society of InformationScience, 41 (6):391-407, 1990., to create the two-dimensional space.

In step S235, the display control unit 245 displays the user in thetwo-dimensional space which is created by the space creating unit 244.

According to the above described process, the users can be displayed(visualized) in the space on the basis of the evaluation informationwith respect to the predetermined evaluation types.

[Still Another Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatuswhich Space-Displays Users]

Next, a still another configuration example of an information processingapparatus which space-displays users will be described with reference toFIG. 37.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 37 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 37, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the preference information storing unit 40 and the presentation unit 41are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 37, the presentationunit 41 includes a user selecting unit 261, a preference informationobtaining unit 262, an inter-User distance matrix creating unit 263, alow-dimensional space creating unit 264 and a display control unit 265.

Since the user selecting unit 261 and the preference informationobtaining unit 262 in FIG. 37 have the same functions as the userselecting unit 221 and the preference information obtaining unit 222 inFIG. 32, respectively, description thereof is omitted.

The inter-user distance matrix creating unit 263 creates an inter-userdistance matrix on the basis of the preference information of every userfrom the preference information obtaining unit 262 and then supplies thecreated inter-user distance matrix to the low-dimensional space creatingunit 264.

The low-dimensional space creating unit 264 compresses the inter-userdistance matrix from the inter-user distance matrix creating unit 263 tocreate a low-dimensional space.

The display control unit 265 displays the users in the space which iscreated by the low-dimensional space creating unit 264.

[User Space Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a user space display process in an information processingapparatus in FIG. 37 will be described with reference to a flowchart inFIG. 38.

In step S251, the user selecting unit 261 selects a user group whichspace-displays on the basis of an instruction for selecting users (usergroup) who space-displays, which is input through the input unit 21 bythe user, and then information indicating the user group to thepreference information obtaining unit 262.

In step S252, the preference information obtaining unit 262 obtainscorresponding preference information from the preference informationstoring unit 40, on the basis of an evaluation type which is inputthrough the input unit 21 by the user, with respect to each user of theuser group which is selected by the user selecting unit 261. In stepS251, in the case where no user is selected, the preference informationwith respect to all users corresponding to the input evaluation type maybe obtained. The preference information obtaining unit 262 supplies theobtained preference information to the inter-user distance matrixcreating unit 263. Herein, the evaluation type which is input by theuser may be one or plural.

In step S253, the inter-user distance matrix creating unit 263calculates distances between the preference information from thepreference information obtaining unit 262, with respect to allcombinations of the user group to create the inter-user distance matrix,and then supplies the created the inter-user distance matrix to thelow-dimensional space creating unit 264.

In step S254, the low-dimensional space creating unit 264 creates thetwo-dimensional space in which the low-dimensional vector(two-dimensional vector) indicating each user is arranged, for example,using the multi dimensional scaling (MDS), on the basis of theinter-user distance matrix from the inter-user distance matrix creatingunit 263.

In step S255, the display control unit 265 displays each user(two-dimensional vector indicating each user) in the two-dimensionalspace which is created by the low-dimensional space creating unit 264.

According to the above described process, the users can be displayed(visualized) in the space on the basis of the evaluation informationwith respect to the plurality of evaluation types.

[Still Another Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatuswhich Space-Displays Users]

Next, a still another configuration of the information processingapparatus which space-displays users will be described with reference toFIG. 39.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 39 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 39, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the preference information storing unit 40 and the presentation unit 41are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 39, the presentationunit 41 includes a corpus storing unit 281, an average semantic spacecreating unit 282, an average inter-keyword distance matrix creatingunit 283, a low-dimensional space creating unit 284, an inter-userkeyword distance matrix creating unit 285, a calibration performing unit286, a keyword selecting unit 287 and a display control, unit 288.

The corpus storing unit 281 records huge text data (corpus) includingsentences of computerized natural languages.

The average semantic space creating unit 282 creates an average semanticspace by obtaining arrangement (vector) in a predetermined semanticspace, of a predetermined word (keyword) which is a general word asidentification information which corresponds to an evaluation type inthe predetermined semantic space, using corpus recorded by the corpusstoring unit 281. Hereinafter, the identification information isdescribed as the word, but is not limited thereto. For example, theidentification information may be information which is able todiscriminate each other, such as a variety of icons or the likeindicating a smiling face, crying face or the like, which are providedto contents when the user evaluates the contents. In this case, theaverage semantic space creating unit 232 creates the average semanticspace by obtaining arrangement in the space, of meta-information onpredetermined icons recorded in a predetermined database. Further, theaverage semantic space creating unit 282 may create the average semanticspace by dimension-compressing a content-icon matrix based on frequencyat which one or more users provided icons for the contents to obtainarrangement in the space of the icons.

The average inter-keyword distance matrix creating unit 283 calculatesan inter-keyword distance in the average semantic space which is createdby the average semantic space creating unit 282 to create the averageinter-keyword distance matrix, and then supplies the created averageinter-keyword distance matrix to the low-dimensional space creating unit284.

The low-dimensional space creating unit 284 compresses the averageinter-keyword distance matrix from the average inter-keyword distancematrix creating unit 283 and the inter-user distance matrix from theinter-user keyword distance matrix creating unit 285, to create thelow-dimensional space for each matrix.

The inter-user keyword distance matrix creating unit 285 calculatesinter-keyword distances from a view point of the user, on the basis ofpredetermined keywords used in the average semantic space creating unit282 and the preference information of every user for the keywords tocreate the inter-user keyword distance matrix. The inter-user keyworddistance matrix creating unit 285 supplies the created inter-userkeyword distance matrix to the low-dimensional space matrix creatingunit 284.

The calibration performing unit 286 performs calibration for providingthe low-dimensional space (average low-dimensional space) for theaverage inter-keyword distance matrix created by the low-dimensionalspace creating unit 284 and the low-dimensional space (userlow-dimensional space) for the inter-user keyword distance matrix.

The keyword selecting unit 287 selects keywords on the basis of aninstruction for selecting the keywords, which is input through the inputunit 21 by the user, and then supplies the selected keywords to thedisplay control unit 288.

The display control unit 288 displays users in a space (calibrationspace) which is obtained by calibrating the low-dimensional space forthe keywords selected by the keyword selecting unit 287 by thecalibration performing unit 286.

[User Space Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a user space display process in an information processingapparatus in FIG. 3) will be described with reference to a flowchart infig, 40.

In step S271, the average semantic space creating unit 282 obtainsarrangement (vector) in the semantic space, of the word (keyword)obtained by dimension-compressing a predetermined document-word matrixaccording to the LSA or the like in the low-dimensional manner using thecorpus recorded by the corpus storing unit 281 to create the averagesemantic space.

In step S272, the average inter-keyword distance matrix creating unit283 calculates inter-keyword distances (Euclid distance, Cos distance orthe like) in the average semantic space created by the average semanticspace creating unit 282 to create the average inter-keyword distancematrix and then supplies the created average inter-keyword distancematrix to the low-dimensional space creating unit 284.

In step S273, the low-dimensional space creating unit 284 creates anaverage low-dimensional space in which the low-dimensional vectorindicating the respective keywords is arranged, for example, using theMOS on the basis of the average inter-keyword distance matrix from theaverage inter-keyword distance matrix creating unit 283 and thencalculates a location in the average low-dimensional space of eachkeyword.

In step S274, the inter-user keyword distance matrix creating unit 285calculates inter-keyword distances form a view point of the user, on thebasis of predetermined keywords used in the average semantic spacecreating unit 282 and the preference information of each user for thekeywords to create an inter-user keyword distance matrix. Morespecifically, the inter-user keyword distance matrix creating unit 285creates the inter-user keyword distance matrix on the basis of a vector(the highest level vector of the FDA) in the characteristic amount spacehaving a characteristic amount coefficient as a component, of thepreference information with respect to the keywords. The inter-userkeyword distance matrix creating unit 285 supplies the createdinter-user keyword distance matrix to the low-dimensional space creatingunit 284.

In step S275, the low-dimensional space creating unit 284 creates a userlow-dimensional space in which the low-dimensional vector indicatingeach keyword from a view point of the user is arranged, for example,using the MDS, on the basis of the inter-user keyword distance matrixfrom the inter-user keyword distance matrix creating unit 285, and thencalculates a location in the user low-dimensional space of each keyword.

In step S276, the calibration performing unit 286 performs calibrationfor providing the average low-dimensional space which is created by theaverage low-dimensional space creating unit 284 and the userlow-dimensional space. More specifically, the calibration performingunit 286 calculates a rotation matrix for providing the averagelow-dimensional space and the user low-dimensional space. At this time,the calibration performing unit 286 selects one keyword (word, forexample, general noun meaning of which is not changed by the user) usedfor calibration. The calibration performing unit 286 calculates, fromthe location in the average low-dimensional space (averagelow-dimensional space vector m) and the location in the userlow-dimensional space (user low-dimensional space vector s_(u)), of theselected keyword, a rotation matrix A_(u) in which m−A_(u)S_(u) is aminimum. The calibration performing unit 286 supplies the calculatedrotation matrix A_(u) to the display control unit 288 through thekeyword selecting unit 287.

In step S277, the keyword selecting unit 287 selects keywords on thebasis of an instruction, for selecting keywords which is input throughthe input unit 21 by the user, and supplies the selected keyword to thedisplay control unit 288. In the case where the keywords are notselected by the User, for example, a keyword having the largestdispersion in the user low-dimensional space may be automaticallyselected.

In step S278, the display control unit 288 displays users(two-dimensional vectors indicating users) in the calibration spaceobtained by calibrating the low-dimensional space (for example,two-dimensional space) for the keywords selected by the keywordselecting unit 287 on the basis of the rotation matrix from thecalibration performing unit 286. At this time, vectors of the keywordsin the average low-dimensional space may be arranged in the originalpoint.

According to the above described process, the present user can recognizedifferences in feelings with respect to other users for the generallanguages (keywords).

[Still Another Configuration Example of Information Processing ApparatusSpace-Displaying Users]

Next, a still another configuration example of the informationprocessing apparatus which space-displays users will be described withreference to FIG. 41.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 41 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 41, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the preference information storing unit 40 and the presentation unit 41are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 41, the presentationunit 41 includes a preference information obtaining unit 301, aneighboring user link setting unit 302, a low-dimensional space creatingunit 303 and a′display control unit 304.

The preference information obtaining unit 301 obtains, on the basis ofan instruction for selecting the preference information corresponding topredetermined evaluation types, which is input through the input unit 21by the user, the preference information of every user according to theevaluation types from the preference information storing unit 40. Thepreference information obtaining unit 301 supplies the obtainedpreference information to the neighboring user link setting unit 302.

The neighboring user link setting unit 302 sets links for neighboringusers on the basis of the preference information from the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 301.

The low-dimensional space creating unit 303 creates a low-dimensionalspace on the basis of the links set by the neighboring user link settingunit 302.

The display control unit 304 displays the users in the space created bythe low-dimensional space creating unit 303.

[User Space Display Process of Information Processing Apparatus]

Next, a user space display process in the information processingapparatus in FIG. 41 will be described with reference to a flowchart inFIG. 42.

In step S291, the preference information obtaining unit 301 obtains, onthe basis of an evaluation type which is input through the input unit 21by the user for each user, the preference information according to theevaluation type from the preference information storing unit 40. Thepreference information obtaining unit 301 supplies the obtainedpreference information to the neighboring user link setting unit 302.

In step S292, the neighboring user link setting unit 302 calculatesdistances between preference information of the respective users fromthe preference information obtaining unit 301 and sets links for a knumber of users of a higher level which are in a near distance, usingthe k-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm (k-NN).

In step S293, the low-dimensional space creating unit 303 creates thelow-dimensional space by the spring model or, for example, Isomapdisclosed in Tenenbaum J., et al., “A global geometric framework fornonlinear dimensionality reduction”, Science, 290(5500):2319-2323,2000., on the basis of the links set by the neighboring user linksetting unit 302.

In step S294, the display control unit 304 displays the users in thespace created by the low-dimensional space creating unit 303.

According to the above described process, the users in a near distancecan be displayed in the space.

As described above, since the present user and the other users aredisplayed in the space (visualized) on the basis of the preferenceinformation or the like, details of preferences of the other users canbe presented in an easily recognized manner. Accordingly, the user mayintuitively recognize that the user is located in a certain locationwith respect to the other users and the other users who are similar tothe user.

4. Other Modifications

Hereinbefore, a process based on preference information with respect toeach user is described, but preference information for a user groupincluding a plurality of users may be created.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus which CreatesPreference Information with Respect to User Group]

A configuration example of an information processing apparatus whichcreates preference information with respect to a user group including aplurality of users will be described with reference to FIG. 43.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 43 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 43, the components other than the evaluation information storingunit 34, the presentation unit 41 and a newly added user informationstoring unit 321 ace not described.

The user information storing unit 321 records user informationindicating an attribute of a user. The user information is supplied tothe presentation unit 41 as necessary.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 43, the presentationunit 41 includes a user group creating unit 322 and a user preferenceinformation creating unit 323.

The user group creating unit 322 reads user information from the userinformation storing unit 321, on the basis of an instruction forcreating the user group which is input through the input unit 21 by theuser, to create the user group. The user group creating unit 322supplies the information indicating the user group to the grouppreference information creating unit 323.

The group preference information creating unit 323 creates grouppreference information which indicates the tendency of preferences ofthe user group for predetermined items on the basis of preferenceinformation of the users in the used group, on the basis of theinformation indicating the user group from the user group creating unit322.

[Group Preference Information Creating Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, a group preference information creating process in the informationprocessing apparatus in FIG. 43 will be described with reference to aflowchart in FIG. 44.

In step S311, the user group creating unit 322 reads user information asshown in FIG. 45 from the user information storing unit 321, on thebasis of an instruction for creating the user group which is inputthrough the input unit 21 by the user, to create the user group.

As shown in FIG. 45, the user information includes users (user names),user information types indicating attribute types of the users, andvalues of the user information types.

According to FIG. 45, gender of a user 1 is female; a residentialdistrict of the user 1 is Tokyo; and a current location of the user 1 is35.623304° of north latitude and 139.733187° of east longitude. Further,a current location of a user 2 is 43.068261° of north latitude and141.351428° of east longitude; a current location of a user 3 is35.634279° of north latitude and 139.716718° of east longitude; acurrent location of a user 4 is 35.658691° of north latitude and139.701719° of east longitude; and a current location of a user 5 is43.768971° of north latitude and 142.482258° of east longitude.

For example, the user group creating unit 322 sets the latitude and thelongitude in coordinate axes in a two-dimensional plane on the basis ofa current location of the user, thereby grouping the users 1 to 5 into auser group including the users 1, 3 and 4, and a user group includingthe users 2 and 5.

Further, the grouping performed by the user group creating unit 322 isnot limited to the user information, but clustering (grouping) may beperformed according to distances between preference information of theusers or contexts (location information, weather, sensing information onsweating and actions, or the like) of the users.

in step S312, the group preference information creating unit 323 createsgroup preference information on the basis of the evaluation informationof the users in the user group, on the basis of the informationindicating the user group. For example, the group preference informationcreating unit 323 reads the evaluation information with respect to eachuser in the user group and creates preference information(transformation vector) according to the FDA, and sets an average vectorthereof to group preference information. Further, for example, the grouppreference information creating unit 323 considers a class of theevaluation information of all the users in the user group as one user'sevaluation information, to create the preference information and to setthe created preference information to the group preference information.At this time, in the case of such a conflicted state that three usersevaluate “cool” (positive evaluation) and two users evaluate “not good”(negative evaluation) with respect to evaluation type for a certain itemin evaluation information with respect to each user in the user group,“cool” is determined as one user's evaluation type by the majority. Thelarger difference in the user groups is, the larger a value of theintensity corresponding to the evaluation type may be.

In step S313, the group preference information creating unit 323supplies the created group preference information to the preferenceinformation storing unit 40 to be recorded.

According to the above described process, since the preferenceinformation of each user group can be created, the tendency ofpreferences for items of each user group can be presented, and thus,specific evaluations for the items of other groups can be recognized.

For example, the item recommendation process as described with referenceto the flowchart in FIG. 13 may be performed for the user group. In thiscase, for example, the presentation unit 41 calculates evaluationinformation of the users in the other groups and may present theevaluations for the items of the other groups as shown in FIG. 46.

In FIG. 46, a song A of an artist a is exemplified as one itemrecommended by the other groups; and evaluations are given by womenliving in Tokyo as a user group. In addition, among the users in theuser group who are the women living in Tokyo, 46 people give positiveevaluations, 21 people give negative evaluation, 12 people give “cool”evaluations, and 5 people give “feel good” evaluations.

Further, a song B of an artist β is exemplified as another itemrecommended by the other group; and evaluations are given by a usergroup who are listening to the song while playing sports. In addition,among the users in the user group who are listening to the song whileplaying sports, 83 people give positive evaluations, 11 people givenegative evaluations, 43 people give “happy” evaluations, and 39 peoplegive “lively” evaluations.

That is, the process for the user group is not limited to the itemrecommendation process, but the process may be performed in a mannersimilar to the process for each user as described above.

In the above description, a temporal change with respect to the userevaluations is not considered, but the process may be performed tocorrespond to time-varying user evaluations.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus Correspondingto Time-Varying User Evaluations]

Herein, a configuration example of an information processing apparatuscorresponding to user evaluations which are time-varying will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 47.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 47 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 47, the components other than the user evaluation storing unit 32,the evaluation information storing unit 34, the preference informationcreating unit 39, the preference information storing unit 40 and thepresentation unit 41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 47, the preferenceinformation creating unit 39 provides time information indicating timeto the preference information as described in FIG. 9, to thereby createthe preference information corresponding to preferences of users who aretime-varying.

Further, in the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 47, thepresentation unit 41 includes a preference information obtaining unit341, a same user similarity level calculating unit 342, a varying pointspecifying unit 343, a change item obtaining unit 344 and a remindfunction unit 345.

The preference information obtaining unit 341 obtains, on the basis ofan instruction for selecting preference information corresponding topredetermined users, which is input through the input unit 21 by theuser, the preference information including time information of the usersfrom the preference information storing unit 40. The preferenceinformation obtaining unit 341 supplies the obtained preferenceinformation to the same user similarity level calculating unit 342.

The same user similarity level calculating unit 342, similar to the usersimilarity level calculating unit 82 in FIG. 12, calculates similaritylevel between the preference information at different times of the sameuser, on the basis of the preference information with respect to thesame user from the preference information obtaining unit 341 andevaluation information corresponding thereto, and supplies thepreference information including the similarity level to the similaruser determining unit 83.

The varying point specifying unit 343 specifies a varying point (varyingtime) of the similarity level between the preference information on thebasis of the preference information at the different times including thesimilarity level, from the same user similarity level calculating unit342, and supplies time corresponding to the varying point to the changeitem obtaining unit 344.

The change item obtaining unit 344 obtains information about itemscorresponding to the varying point on the basis of the timecorresponding to the varying point from the varying point specifyingunit 343, and supplies the obtained information to the display unit 22and the remind function unit 345.

The remind function unit 345 supplies, when a predetermined periodelapses aster the information about the items is supplied from thechange item obtaining unit 344 is supplied, the information about theitems to the display unit 22.

[Varying Point Item Presentation Process of Information ProcessingApparatus]

Next, a varying point item presentation process in the informationprocessing apparatus in FIG. 47 will be described with reference to aflowchart in FIG. 48.

In step S331, the preference information obtaining unit 341 obtains, onthe basis of an instruction for selecting preference informationcorresponding to predetermined users, which is input through the inputunit 21 by the user, the preference information including timeinformation of the users from the preference information storing unit40. The preference information obtaining unit 341 supplies the obtainedpreference information to the same user similarity level calculatingunit 342.

Hereinafter, the preference information to which the time information isadded will be described with reference to FIG. 49.

The preference information shown in FIG. 49 is obtained by adding thetime information indicating the time when the preference information iscreated to the preference information as described with reference toFIG. 9. Specifically, in FIG. 49, time information indicating “12o'clock, Dec. 1, 2008” is provided to two pieces of upper preferenceinformation of a user 1; and time information indicating “11 o'clock,Dec. 10, 2008” is provided to two pieces of lower preference informationthereof.

As described above, by providing the time information to the preferenceinformation, the evaluation information is not overwritten.

In step S332, the same user similarity level calculating unit 342calculates similarity level between the preference information atdifferent times of the same user, on the basis of the preferenceinformation with respect to the same user from the preferenceinformation obtaining unit 341 and evaluation information correspondingthereto, and supplies the preference information including thesimilarity level to the similar user determining unit 83.

In step S333, the varying point specifying unit 343 specifies a varyingpoint (varying time) of the similarity level between the preferenceinformation on the basis of the preference information at the differenttimes including the similarity level from the same user similarity levelcalculating unit 342, and supplies time corresponding to the varyingpoint to the change item obtaining unit 344. For example, the varyingpoint specifying unit 343 determines that change of the preferenceinformation is large when similarity level between preferenceinformation becomes smaller than 1/α times (α>1) of an average thereof,to specify the varying point. More specifically, with respect topreference information to which time information on continuous times 1to 5 is provided, in the case where similarity level between thepreference information at the time 1 and the preference information atthe time 2 is 0.8; similarity level between the preference informationat the time 2 and the preference information at the time 3 is 0.91; andsimilarity level between the preference information at the time 3 andthe preference information at the time 4 is 0.85; and similarity levelbetween the preference information at the time 4 and the preferenceinformation at the time 5 is 0.93, an average thereof becomes 0.8725.Accordingly, if similarity level between the preference information atthe time 5 and the preference information at the time 6 is 0.35 and achange determination reference is ½ times (α=2) of the averagesimilarity level, since 0.35 is smaller than 0.8725×(½)=0.43625, it isdetermined that there is a change in the preference information betweenthe time 5 and the time 6.

In step S334, the change item obtaining unit 344 obtains an item havinga high view frequency at that time or evaluation informationcorresponding to an item of having a high intensity of the evaluationinformation, on the basis of the time corresponding to the varying pointfrom the varying point specifying unit 343, and supplies, for example, aname of the item to the display unit 22.

In step S335, the display unit 22 presents the name of the item from thechange item obtaining unit 344, and presents an inquiry on whether theitem triggers the change in the preference information to the user. Inthis respect, there is an input that the item triggers the change in thepreference information from the user, the change item obtaining unit 344sets the item as an impact item which triggers the change in thepreference information. At this time, a natural sentence from the useror context information or the like with respect to the user may bestored. Further, the impact item may be directly input by the user.

In addition, since the impact item significantly changes the preferenceof the user, the impact item may be preferentially presented in an itemrecommendation process for other users. For example, in step S75 in FIG.13, when calculating a prediction evaluation value of the item, theprediction evaluation value is set to β times (β>1) with respect to theimpact item. Further, when presenting the impact item, comments such as“this is an item which has given an impact to a certain user” may beincluded in the impact item to be presented.

Further, the remind function unit 345, after a predetermined periodelapses (for example, three years later) from the time when there is aninput that a predetermined item triggers the change in the preferenceinformation from the user, presents the impact item, a natural sentence,or context information or other information at that time. Further, aftera predetermined time elapses from the time when the user did not viewedthe impact item (or similar item), the impact item may be presented.Accordingly, a memory or interest for the impact item of the user may beregularly recalled.

According to the above described process, since a timing of the changein preferences of the user can be recognized, the item which was beingviewed by the user at that time may be recommended as an item causing asignificant change.

In the above description, a configuration presenting differences inpreferences between the present user and other users is mainly describedon the basis of the preference information, but the difference in thepreferences between the present user and the other users may bedescribed on the basis of link information.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichPresents Characteristics of Users on the Basis of Link Information]

Herein, a configuration example of an information processing apparatuswhich presents characteristics of users on the basis of the linkinformation will be described with reference to FIG. 50.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 50 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 50, the components other than the link information storing unit 35,the item characteristic amount storing unit 37 and the presentation unit41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 50, the presentationunit 41 includes a link item distance calculating unit 361, acorrelation calculating unit 362 and an inter-class link frequencycalculating unit 363.

The link item distance calculating unit 361 calculates distances (linkitem distances) between corresponding (link-extended) items in linkinformation of the link information storing unit 35, using itemcharacteristic amounts of the item characteristic amount storing unit37, and supplies the calculated distances to the correlation calculatingunit 362.

The correlation calculating unit 362 calculates correlation between thelink item distance from the link item distance calculating unit 361 andthe intensity (hereinafter, referred to as link intensity) in the linkinformation, and then displays the result to the display unit 22.

The inter-class link frequency calculating unit 363 calculates frequencyof different classes of the respective items (inter-class linkfrequency) in corresponding (link-extended) item pairs in the linkinformation. Herein, the class of the item is, for example, non-discreteinformation in which the same keyword is provided to each item, such assongs of the same artist. For example, the class is a characteristicamount type in an item characteristic amount of a name attribute. Theinter-class link frequency calculating unit 363 sets, in the case wherethe calculated inter-item class frequency is larger than a predeterminedthreshold, the classes of the respective items in the item pairscorresponding to the inter-item and inter-class frequency as the same.

[Characteristic Amount Suitability Level Presentation Process ofInformation Processing Apparatus]

A characteristic amount suitability level presentation processindicating a suitability level of item characteristic amounts accordingto an information processing apparatus in FIG. 50 will be described withreference to a flowchart in FIG. 51.

In step S351, the link item distance calculating unit 361 calculateslink item distances between corresponding items in the link informationfor every user, using the item characteristic amounts in the itemcharacteristic amount storing unit 37, and supplies the calculated linkitem distances to the correlation calculating unit 362. The link itemdistances may be calculated with respect to all the characteristicamount types, or may be calculated with respect to partial spaces (atleast one characteristic amount), for example, as Euclid distances in acharacteristic amount space according to the characteristic amount typesof the item characteristic amounts. The link item distance calculatingunit 361 supplies the calculated link item distances to the correlationcalculating unit 362.

In step S352, the correlation calculating unit 362 calculatescorrelation between the link item distance from the link item distancecalculating unit 361 and the link intensity in the link information, andsupplies a correlation value as the calculated result to the displayunit 22.

In step S353, the display unit 22 presents a suitability level ofexisting item characteristic amounts of the user, on the basis of thecorrelation value from the correlation calculating unit 362. In the casewhere the correlation value from the correlation calculating unit 362 issmaller than for example, a predetermined threshold, since it isconsidered that the distance between the link-extended items andintensity thereof are not suitable for each other, the display unit 22presents that a score of the characteristic amount type in the existingitem characteristic amount is not significantly suitable.

Further, herein, the link item distance calculating unit 361 may supplya value obtained by dividing a value which is obtained by adding up alllink item distance with respect to every user, by the number of link, tothe display unit 22 for presentation. In the case where the former valueis large compared with other users, since a link item distance withrespect to one link becomes large compared with the other users, thepresent user may consider that the score of the characteristic amounttype in the existing item characteristic amount are not significantlysuitable. In such a case, the user may use the evaluation type which isgiven to the item pair by the other users or may add a newcharacteristic amount type in the item characteristic amount.

According to the above described process, the user can recognize whetherthe score of the characteristic amount type in the existing itemcharacteristic amount is suitable for the user.

[Inter-Class Link Frequency Calculating Process of InformationProcessing Apparatus]

Next, an inter-class link frequency calculating process in aninformation processing apparatus in FIG. 50 will be described withreference to a flowchart in FIG. 52.

In step S371, the inter-class link frequency calculating unit 363calculates frequency (inter-class link frequency) of different classesof respective items in corresponding (link-extended) item pairs in thelink information.

Hereinafter, an example of calculation of the inter-item class frequencywill be described with reference to FIG. 53.

In FIG. 53, two types of items having different classes, which arerepresented by black circles and white circles, are distributed in thecharacteristic amount space including a characteristic amount 1 and acharacteristic amount 2. Further, items connected by a dot line in thefigure are link-extended items. In the characteristic amount space shownin FIG. 53, the number of all links is six and the number of linkshaving different classes among all the links is four. At this time, theinter-class link frequency calculating unit 363 calculates inter-itemclass frequency as (the number of the links having the different classesamong all the links)/(the number of all the links)=4/6=0.67.

In step S372, the inter-class link frequency calculating unit 363 sets,in the case where the calculated inter-item class frequency is largerthan a predetermined threshold, classes of the respective items in theitem pairs corresponding to the inter-item and inter-class frequency asthe same. For example, the inter-class link frequency calculating unit363 sets, in the case where the inter-item class frequency is largerthan 0.5, the classes as the same. In the items shown in FIG. 53, sincethe inter-item class frequency is 0.67 which is larger than 0.5, theclasses of two types indicated by the dark circles and white circles areset as the same classes.

According to the above described process, since classes link-extendedwith a high frequency by the user are set as the same classes even inthe case of items having different classes, the items having differentclasses may be similarly retrieved, thereby retrieving the items with anew point of view. In addition, other users who set the items havingdifferent classes as the same classes in a similar way may be presented,thereby finding a new similarity with respect to the other users.

Hereinbefore, the process for calculating frequency of links whichconnect classes is described, but the items may be clustered for everypartial space to calculate frequency of links which connect theclusters.

[Configuration Example of Information Processing Apparatus whichCalculates Link Frequency Between Clusters]

Hereinafter, a configuration example of an information processingapparatus which calculates link frequency between clusters will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 54.

The information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 54 basically has thesame function as the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 1. InFIG. 54, the components other than the link information storing unit 35,the item characteristic amount storing unit 37 and the presentation unit41 are not described.

In the information processing apparatus 12 in FIG. 54, the presentationunit 41 includes a partial space creating unit 381, a clustering unit382, an inter-cluster link frequency calculating unit 383 and a displaycontrol unit 384.

The partial space creating unit 381 creates a plurality of partialspaces including item characteristic amounts (spaces including severalitem characteristic amounts among all item characteristic amounts).

The clustering unit 382 clusters items (item characteristic amounts) inthe respective partial spaces created by the partial space creating unit381.

The inter-cluster link frequency calculating unit 383 calculatesfrequency (inter-cluster link frequency) of different clusters includingeach item, in corresponding (link-extended) item pairs in the linkinformation, in each partial space created by the partial space creatingunit 381.

The display control unit 384 displays in the display unit 22 a partialspace where the inter-cluster link frequency is the smallest among thepartial spaces where the inter-cluster link frequency is calculated bythe inter-cluster link frequency calculating unit 383.

[Inter-Cluster Link Frequency Calculating Process of InformationProcessing Apparatus]

Hereinafter, a configuration example of an inter-cluster link frequencycalculating process in an information processing apparatus in FIG. 54will be described with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 55.

In step S371, the partial space creating unit 381 creates a plurality ofpartial spaces including, item characteristic amounts. For example, inthe case where preference information is five and two-dimensionalpartial spaces are created, the partial space creating unit 381 createspartial spaces of ₅C₂=10.

In step S372, the clustering unit 382 clusters the items using thek-means method or the like in each partial space created by the partialspace creating unit 381.

In step S373, the inter-cluster link frequency calculating unit 383calculates the inter-cluster link frequency in corresponding item pairsin the link information, in each partial space created by the partialspace creating unit 381. More specifically, the inter-cluster linkfrequency calculating unit 383 calculates the number of links whichconnect clusters with respect to the number of all links for everypartial space as the inter-cluster link frequency.

In step S374, the display control unit 384 displays in the display unit22 a partial space where the inter-cluster link frequency is thesmallest among the partial spaces in which the inter-cluster linkfrequency is calculated by the inter-cluster link frequency calculatingunit 383.

According to the above described process, since the partial space wherethe inter-cluster link frequency is the smallest is displayed, the usercan recognize a bundle of items suitable for user preferences among thebundles (clusters) of the items evaluated by the user.

However, the above described series of processes may be performed byhardware or may be performed by software. In the case where the seriesof processes is performed by the software, a program constituting thesoftware is installed from a recording medium in a computer in which theprogram constituting the software is installed in exclusive hardware, orin a universal personal computer or the like which is installed with avariety of programs for performing a variety of functions.

FIG. 56 illustrates a configuration example of a universal personalcomputer. The personal computer is installed with a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) 901. An input and output interface 905 is connected tothe CPU 901 through a bus 904. A ROM (Read Only Memory) 902 and a RAM(Random Access Memory) 903 are connected to the bus 904.

An input unit 906 including an input device such as a keyboard or amouse through which the user inputs manipulation commands; an outputunit 907 which outputs processing manipulation screens or images of theprocessed results to the display device; a storage unit 908 includingsuch as a hard disc drive which stores programs or various data; and acommunication unit 909 which performs a communication process through anetwork such as the Internet, which includes a LAN (Local Area Network)adaptor or the like, are connected to the input and output interface905. Further, a drive 910 which reads and writes data for a removablemedia 911 such as a magnetic disc (including a flexible disk), anoptical disc (CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), DVD (DigitalVersatile Disc)), a magneto-optical disc (including MD (Mini Disc)), ora semiconductor memory is also connected to the input and outputinterface 905.

The CPU 901 performs a variety of processes according to programsrecorded in the ROM 902, or programs which are read from the removablemedia 11 such as a magnetic disc, optical disc, magneto-optical disc orsemiconductor memory, are installed in the storage unit 908, and thenare loaded to the RAM 903 from the storage unit 908. Data or the likefor performing the various processes by the CPU 901 is appropriatelyrecorded in the RAM 903.

In the present description, the steps for describing programs recordedin the recording medium may include processes which are performed in atemporal sequence in the described order, or may include processes whichare performed in parallel or individually.

The present application contains subject matter related to thatdisclosed in Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2009-093622 filedin the Japan Patent Office on Apr. 8, 2009, the entire content of whichis hereby incorporated by reference.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1.-12. (canceled)
 13. An information processing apparatus comprising: anevaluation information extracting unit configured to extract evaluationinformation of an item from at least one user; a preference informationcreating unit configured to create preference information indicating apreference of the at least one user based on the evaluation informationextracted by the evaluation information extracting unit and metadata ofthe item; and a visual information creating unit configured to create avisual of the preference information of the at least one user.
 14. Theinformation processing apparatus of claim 13, further including adisplay control unit configured to display the visual.
 15. Theinformation processing apparatus of claim 13, further including apreference calculating unit configured to calculate an item preferencelevel based on the preference information and an item characteristicamount.
 16. The information processing apparatus of claim 15, whereinthe preference calculating unit obtains the item characteristic amountfrom an item characteristic amount storing unit.
 17. The informationprocessing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the item preference levelcorresponds to the level of preference for the item by the at least oneuser.
 18. The information processing apparatus of claim 15, wherein thedisplay control unit is configured to display the item preference levelin the visual.
 19. The information processing apparatus of claim 15,wherein the display control unit is further configured to display theitem characteristic amount in the visual.
 20. The information processingapparatus of claim 13, wherein the evaluation information is inputthrough an input unit by the at least one user.
 21. An informationprocessing method comprising: extracting evaluation information from atleast one user of an item; creating preference information indicating apreference of the at least one user based on the evaluation informationand metadata of the item; and creating a visual of the preferenceinformation of the at least one user.
 22. The information processingmethod of claim 21, further including displaying the visual.
 23. Theinformation processing method of claim 21, further including determiningan item characteristic amount.
 24. The information processing method ofclaim 23, further including calculating an item preference level basedon the preference information and the item characteristic amount. 25.The information processing method of claim 24, wherein the itempreference level corresponds to the level of preference for the item bythe at least one user.
 26. The information processing method of claim24, further including displaying the item preference level in thevisual.
 27. The information processing method of claim 22, furtherincluding presenting the item characteristic amount in the visual. 28.The information processing method of claim 21, wherein the evaluationinformation is input through an input unit by the at least one user. 29.A program for executing of a process in a computer, the programcomprising: an evaluation information extracting function of extractingevaluation information from at least one user of an item; a preferenceinformation creating function of creating preference informationindicating a preference of the at least one user based on the evaluationinformation and metadata of the item; and a visual information creatingfunction of creating a visual of the preference information of the atleast one user.
 30. The program of claim 29, further comprising adisplay controlling function of displaying the visual.
 31. The programof claim 30, further including an item preference level calculatingfunction of calculating an item preference level based on the preferenceinformation and an item characteristic amount.
 32. The program of claim31, wherein the display controlling function displays the itempreference level in the visual.